Phuket Move Forward MPs elect say ‘thank you’

The three Move Forward candidates made it a clean sweep of all three MP seats contested in the national election held on Sunday, according to unofficial results announced early Monday morning (May 15).

Somchart Techathavorncharoen was declared the unofficial winning candidate for Constituency 1, which comprises Phuket Town (Talad Yai and Talad Neua subdistricts), Koh Kaew and Ratsada. Assigned No 2 on the ballot, Somchart 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.

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

Thitikan Thitipruekthikul won Constituency 3, which comprises all of Thalang District along with Kathu subdistrict, with 20,421 votes.

“Thank you to all the team members and everyone who is a part of this victory. We have already proven that our action is listening to the problems of the people and finding solutions together, which is what the people voted for,” the Phuket branch of the Move Forward Party said in a notice posted online yesterday (May 15).

“We will do our best work. [We have] 300 policies and many more to make Phuket and Thailand better than ever. Ready to go!! And thank you very much everyone…. Thank you!” the local Move Forward organisers said.

Orapin Acheevasuk, Director of the Phuket office of the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT Phuket), confirmed that voter turnout was 75.06%.

However, 2.78% of the votes cast were deemed spoiled ballots and a further 3.98% of ballots has the ’No vote’ box selected, she noted.

There was one case of an illegal election offense which is in the process of investigation by the police, Ms Orapin said.

Ms Orapin urged people who did not exercise their right to vote to report their reason for not casting a vote through the correct channels, such as through a letter to the district registrar, the ECT Phuket office or through the website of the Office of Registration Administration under the Department of Provincial Administration.

People have until May 21 to do so, she added.

Not providing a reason for not voting may affect their right to vote and may invalidate certain political rights, such as running for public office, for a specified period in the future, Ms Orapin noted.