Move Forward Party sweeps Phuket

Polls results were counted late into the night, with Somchart Techathavorncharoen declared the unofficial winning candidate for Constituency 1, which comprises Phuket Town (Talad Yai and Talad Neua subdistricts), Koh Kaew and Ratsada,

Somchart, who was assigned No 2 on the ballot, garnered 18,604 votes.

“Thank you to all the trust that the people of Phuket have given me today. From now on, the Move Forward Party and I will continue to push for progressive policy issues. Let’s make the Thailand that we dream of together come true as soon as possible.” Mr Somchart said in a post on Facebook after 1am today.

Piya Sidokbuap of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party placed second in the constituency, with 16,086 votes, followed by Jirayut Songyos of the Palang Pracharat Party, who garnered 10,470 votes.

Chalermpong Saengdee of the Move Forward Party won Constituency 2, which comprises Wichit, Chalong, Rawai, Karon, Patong and Kamala, with 21,913 votes.

Nuanchan Samart of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party placed second with 14,967 votes, followed by Wongsakorn Chanakij of the Bhumjaithai Party, who garnered 9,596 votes.

Making it a clean sweep for the move Forward Party in Phuket was Thitikan Thitipruekthikul, who won Constituency 3, which comprises all of Thalang District along with Kathu subdistrict, with 20,421 votes.

Orathai Kerdsup of the Chat Phatthana Kla Party placed second with 16,469 votes followed by Wiwat Jindapol of the Bhumjaithai Party, who placed third with 13,692 votes.

Polling at the 377 polling stations set up across the island yesterday went largely without incident.

An elderly man in Thalang was asked to join police for questioning after he tore his ballot up by accident. According to family members, the man thought a dotted line printed on the ballot indicated where the ballot was to be separated from the main form.

The ballots will now be sent to the Election Commission of Thailand main headquarters in Bangkok for confirmation.