Sunday’s elections saw mayor Pian Keesin and his ‘Rak Patong’ group triumph over rival Kittisan Kuru and the ‘Patong Progress’ group.
“No problems at all arose: from the time elections were announced till election day, no one complained of corruption in its various forms,” Kittipongs said.
Asked to comment on stories that people living in other provinces had registered in Patong in order to vote, and that a mere seven houses in the city apparently serve as homes to over four hundred persons on the voter rolls, Kittipongs said he knew nothing about it.
“We’ve received no information about that, but anyone with knowledge about it can make a complaint in writing to the Phuket Provincial Election Board. A responsible official is always standing by to receive it during this period.”
Patong, a bustling, densely populated city (though the exact population is unknown) that is the island’s investment and tourism magnet, has only 12,831 registered voters, 8,143 of whom (63.46 per cent) voted in Sunday’s polling.
This will be the third term in office for Mayor Pian, who pushed past Kittisan by 4,352 votes to 3,154. He has been the target of several voting fraud investigations and was removed once from his position in a city council coup.