Phuket constituencies face ‘tweaking’ for upcoming election

PHUKET: Come this Saturday (Nov 10), voters in Phuket will know whether they will be voting in freshly redrawn constituencies after the Phuket office of the Election Commission (PEC) proposed new versions of Phuket’s electoral districts to the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) in Bangkok.

Prasert Krajom of the PEC explained to The Phuket News that his office had received orders to prepare Phuket for an upcoming election.

“No date for the election has been confirmed just yet, that is still in process,” he added.

Phuket will still have two members to be elected to parliament, Mr Prasert confirmed.

However, considering the changes in the island’s demographics and population distribution in recent years, the PEC recently held a campaign calling for people to give their opinion on whether the boundaries of the constituencies should be changed.

Three maps were presented to the public to give their opinions, as follows:

Map 1 (old boundaries):

Constituency 1 – Mueang District, except Rassada and Koh Kaew
Constituency 2 – Thalang and Kathu Districts, as well as Rassada and Koh Kaew

Map 2 (new boundaries):

Constituency 1 – Mueang District, including Rassada, but excluding Koh Kaew and Rawai
Constituency 2 – Thalang and Kathu Districts, but also including and Koh Kaew, Rawai and Karon

Map 3 (new boundaries):

Constituency 1 – Mueang District, excluding Rawai, Chalong and Karon
Constituency 2 – Thalang and Kathu Districts, but including Rawai, Chalong and Karon

People were called to give their opinions from Oct 4-13.

“Those opinions have now been sent to the Election Commission in Bangkok for their consideration. We expect to be informed of their decision on Nov 10,” Mr Prasert said.

Mr Prasert declined to give any indication on what the feedback received by the PEC showed what the public asked for.

Mr Prasert noted that Phuket currently has about 287,000 eligible voters.

“As of last year, Phuket had a registered population of 402,217. Of those, 287,019 were eligible to vote,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department in a post today (Nov 6) has encouraged people to be ready for the next senatorial election, although no date for that election has been set.

Candidates as senators must be Thai nationals over 40 years old, and must represent either their electorate of birth or where they have worked or licved for at least two years.

Senatorial candidates must not be a member of any party, the PR Dept noted.

– Puttimas Puttasuwan

For more details about the preparations for the upcoming elections, see the PEC website. (Click here.)