Independent Bangkok gubernatorial candidate Sakoltee Phattiyakul aims to make zebra crossings safer for pedestrians while improving traffic lights at these spots if he is elected governor, he said while campaigning in Bang Kho Laem district on Tuesday.
Sakoltee said most complaints were about traffic problems such as traffic jams. Some residents were especially worried about safety at zebra crossings.
He said motorists in big foreign cities stop immediately when they see pedestrians crossing. In Bangkok, however, it would take some time to “build drivers’ conscience” and a particular mindset so they learn to always stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings.
“I think traffic lights at zebra crossings should be clear both at day and night because some drivers say they cannot see the crossings clearly,” the governor candidate said.
Old car wrecks are another problem he encountered when he was deputy governor before stepping down on March 7, he said. They are parked on roads and in alleys, which cause traffic jams, and they also collect dust.
Sakoltee said he had come up with a project to transport more than 1,000 unused cars to a designated area for wrecks in Nong Khaem district.
The project was “well-received”, he said, because some wrecks have been in the same spot for more than 30 to 40 years.
After a nine-year hiatus, Bangkok’s governor and council members will be elected on May 22, and here’s some background and important information about the elections.
History of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)
1971: The National Executive Council orders the merger of Krung Thep and Thonburi provinces to create Krung Thep and Thonburi Metropolis. The council also merges the Bangkok Municipality and Thonburi municipality to create the Metropolitan City Municipality. 1972: The council reorganises the local government in the metropolis by merging the Krung Thep and Thonburi Metropolis with the Krung Thep and Thonburi provincial administrations, the Metropolitan City Municipality and the Sanitation Administration to create the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). Bangkok governors 1973: Chamnarn Yuwaboon is appointed by the National Executive Council. Bangkok has seen 16 governors since BMA was created, nine of whom have been appointed. 1975: A law is promulgated requiring BMA governors to be elected. Their tenure is set at four years. August 10, 1975: Thammanoon Thien-ngern from Democrat Party is elected. 1977: Serious conflicts erupt between BMA and Bangkok Council, prompting then-premier Thanin Kraivichien to sack Thammanoon and restore the appointment system. 1977-1984: Four Bangkok governors are appointed in a row. 1985: Bangkok gubernatorial elections are restored. November 14, 1985: Maj-General Chamlong Srimuang of Ruam Palang Group is elected. He serves two terms and five governors are elected after him. 1992-1996: Krissada Arunwong na Ayutthaya (Palang Dharma Party). 1996-2000: Dr Bhichit Rattakul (independent). 2000-2004: Samak Sundaravej (Thai Citizen Party) – the first Bangkok governor to win by more than 1 million votes.
2004-2008: Apirak Kosayothin (Democrat) October 5-November 19, 2008: Apirak Kosayothin. He is forced to step down after being charged over irregularities in the procurement of fire engines. 2009-2013: MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra (Democrat) 2013-2016: MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra (Democrat) makes history by winning 1.2 million votes. He is sacked by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for alleged involvement in a controversial light bulbs procurement project. October 18, 2016: Pol General Aswin Kwanmuang is appointed the same day Sukhumbhand is removed. March 24, 2022: Aswin Kwanmuang steps down to contest in the May 22 gubernatorial elections.
Upcoming Bangkok governor and council elections Date: May 22, 2022 Eligible voters: 4,374,131 Men: 1,996,104 Women: 2,378,027 Age group of voters 18-27: 698,660 (16% of all eligible voters and most will be first-time voters) 28-40: 1,013,270 (23%) 41-50: 871,272 (19%) 51-60: 826,760 (18%) 61-70: 611,232 (14%) 71-80: 309,315 (7%) 80-plus: 151,014 (3%) Points to ponder About 3 million Gen X and Gen Y voters (21-53 years old) 31 candidates fighting for governor’s post 382 candidates for 50 Bangkok Council seats 6,817 polling stations 167,298 operation officials 343.64 million baht budget Five most popular candidates and their ballot number (Based on a recent opinion poll conducted by NIDA) Dr Chadchart Sittipunt, 55, independent, No 8 Aswin Kwanmuang, 71, independent, No 6 Dr Suchatvee Suwansawat, 49, Democrat Party, No 4 Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, 44, Move Forward Party, No 1 Sakoltee Phattiyakul, 44, independent, No 3
Dream Bangkok governor (Based on a recent Super Poll, respondents were given more than one choice) 55.6%: Young, an experienced executive who can solve problems 25.4%: A senior executive who has held political posts 21.7%: Social activist who can fight against corruption 16.3%: Former BMA executive 16.3%: Former academic or university executive 14.9%: Former MP
Dream Bangkok (Based on a recent Super Poll, respondents were given more than one choice) 52.3%: Safe 49.3%: Easy access to welfare 45.3%: Healthy with easy access to medical services 42.5%: A city of history, culture and tourism 41.4%: A city of international education 35.8%: Destination for international investors 35.6%: A city of gender equality 28.5%: A city of entertainment 13.6%: A new “Las Vegas of Asia”
Governor’s salary A royal decree on May 10, 2013, stipulates the governor’s monthly earnings as: Basic salary: 72,000 baht Allowances: 41,500 baht Total: 113,560 baht
Kanok Wongtrangan resigned as Democrat deputy leader on Monday after failing to push the party to take stronger action over sex-abuse charges against Prinn Pantichpakdi.
Posting on Facebook, Kanok said his moral conscience prompted him to quit with the immediate effect.
Kanok stopped short of naming Prinn but his message clearly indicated he was referring to his fellow former Democrat deputy leader.
Kanon signalled his dissatisfaction with Democrat leader Jurin Laksasnawisit’s actions after Prinn was hit with multiple charges of sexual misconduct and rape.
Prinn quit the party earlier this month after being accused of sexual harassment.
Lawyer Sittha Biabungkerd, who is representing Prinn’s accusers, says 14 women have so far filed police complaints against the former Democrat high-flyer.
Jurin last week resigned as chairman of two panels on women’s rights and promised the party would conduct an investigation and remedy Prinn’s accusers. He brushed off calls for his resignation as party leader, insisting he had to stay on to take responsibility for the controversy.
But Kanok said that society was disappointed with the party’s handling of the controversy.
“The party leader’s actions do not match public expectations of the party’s responsibility to society,” Kanok said.
“The Democrats have always worked with determination in service to the people, in line with the definition of their name. But now it seems clear that the public is dismayed with the party’s decision, led by the leader, regarding what happened.”
Kanok did not spell out what actions he wanted Jurin to take.
Independent Bangkok gubernatorial candidate Sakoltee Phattiyakul and Thai Sarng Thai Party leader Sudarat Keyuraphan visited different parts of the capital to woo voters and share their policies.
Sakoltee visited several markets across the river in Thonburi. While he was at Wang Lang market in Bangkok Noi, vendors complained to him about the lack of business and hoped he would help rebuild the city’s economy.
The candidate said he was already planning to develop markets in Thonburi while he was deputy governor. Sakoltee stepped down from his post on March 7 to register as Bangkok governor candidate. He said his plan will improve business for vendors while respecting the rights of footpath users.
He said he visited the Wang Lang market often because it sells good food, including mango sticky rice, grilled pork and traditional desserts. He said this can be the market’s selling point.
He also told voters that if he was voted in, he would deploy electric buses around Rattanakosin Island to promote important tourist spots. Sakoltee said this plan can be implemented immediately when the country opens fully on May 1.
He also pointed out that previous governors had been bound by their parties, so they faced limitations when selecting personnel. However, since he is running independently, he can select capable personnel.
Meanwhile, Sudarat visited the Keha Chalongkrung market in Nong Chok district to campaign for her party’s candidate, Sita Diwari.
In a speech delivered to an audience of some 1,000 people, Sudarat claimed that household debt accounts for 90 per cent of the GDP and there is a severe lack of liquidity. She added that people were now relying on loan sharks and borrowing money at high-interest rates.
To deal with this problem, she said, the party has a credit fund policy for low-income earners, who can borrow money at low-interest rates. She said loans of 5,000 to 50,000 baht will be given without collateral and borrowers will have between six months and three years to pay back.
Apart from helping get rid of loan sharks, she said these loans will also help people build their credit score if they pay back on time.
Bangkokians will be voting for a new governor and councillors on May 22.
The youngest daughter of ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday vowed to help grassroots voters if they secure a landslide election victory for Pheu Thai.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who heads the so-called “Pheu Thai Family and is the party’s public participation and innovation adviser, made the plea during the party’s general assembly.
The Pheu Thai caucus started at 10.30am on the seventh floor of party headquarters in Bangkok. In attendance were core members including party leader Cholnan Srikaew, Chaturon Chaisang and Chaikasem Nitisiri.
Paetongtarn told the meeting that Pheu Thai was now prepared if the government decided to call a snap election.
“The day the government dissolves the House, we will be ready. We are confident we can transform Thailand from a debt-ridden, miserable place with no future into a country where people can prosper easily. It will become a country of opportunity and hope,” Paetongtarn said.
If Pheu Thai gets the chance to run the country for eight years like the Prayut government, Thais will not be fleeing the country as they are now, she said.
“Instead, Thais abroad will want to return to help create happiness, prosperity and development for the country,” she said.
Pheu Thai will reverse the “brain drain” if it wins a landslide election victory and forms the next government, she added.
It would also implement five policies to help the people.
The first policy is to distribute administrative power more widely and promote public participation in national policymaking.
The second is to promote “soft-power” initiatives to showcase Thai potential and boost incomes.
The third is to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help farmers increase their income.
The fourth is to create a digital government platform to accelerate digital transformation for state agencies and the private sector.
Finally, the party will prepare Thais for the metaverse era by supporting the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), developing children’s digital skills, and pushing augmented and virtual reality technologies.
The Kraikupt dynasty’s grip on Ratchaburi province is under threat now that Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) MP Pareena Kraikupt has been banned from politics for life.
PPRP met on Friday to discuss the upcoming by-election and decided there were no suitable candidates, especially since none of Pareena’s siblings can complete the 90-day-plus party membership requirement.
PPRP’s secretary-general Santi Promphat said the party wanted the Kraikupt family to maintain its hold in Ratchaburi, and since getting one of them to run this time was not possible, it would skip this by-election.
Candidates for the May 21 Ratchaburi Constituency 3 by-election have until Monday to register.
As for the next general election, Santi said PPRP was not worried about losing its influence in the province because Pareena’s father Tawee Kraikupt has been a Ratchaburi MP seven times, while Pareena has held the post four times. He said the Kraikupt family has worked hard for the benefit of their constituents.
He added that the party sympathised with Pareena.
Separately, the former MP said she had not prepared anybody to take over after her because she never thought she would be disqualified. She added that she will join the PPRP campaign in the next election to explain herself to voters.
On April 7, the Supreme Court hit Pareena with a lifetime ban from politics after it found her in violation of political ethics and conflict of interest by possessing state-owned land.
Her 665-rai poultry farm in the province’s Chom Bung district was found to have been allocated to landless farmers but remains reserved forest land.
A Chiang Mai court has ordered the Election Commission (EC) to pay 70 million baht in damages to an election candidate who was accused of vote-buying and disqualified after winning the 2019 general election.
Surapol Kietchaiyakorn of the opposition Pheu Thai Party disclosed on Thursday that the Hot Provincial Court in the northern city ruled on Wednesday in his favour in a civil case he had filed against the EC and 14 of its officials.
The court ordered the defendants to pay Surapol more than THB64 million, plus interest, making the total damages exceed THB70 million. The EC and other defendants have one month to appeal the verdict.
The politician said on Thursday that he had sought damages because the EC and others had tainted his reputation by disqualifying him and prohibiting him from contesting elections for a year for violating the electoral law.
Surapol, a seven-time MP from Chiang Mai, was re-elected in the March 2019 general election. But the EC ruled that he had violated the law by giving THB2,000 and a clock to a prominent local monk. The law forbids election candidates from promising cash or other benefits, directly and indirectly, to communities, temples or schools.
At that time, the EC had also issued an “orange card” against Surapol, which in effect prevented him from contesting in a new election called a month later, as well as any other election for a year.
The disqualified election winner later brought his case to the Supreme Court’s Election Division, which ruled in September 2020 that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had made promises in return for votes.
Surapol told a press conference on Thursday that he was happy to be handed “mercy and justice” by the Chiang Mai court in his civil case against the EC.
“I want to tell my voters that I was innocent and did not break any law. My dignity has been restored. The Pheu Thai Party did not buy votes or commit vote fraud as had been alleged,” he said.
His lawyer Pokpong Klapwiset, who was also present at the press conference, said that if the EC refused to apologise or take any responsibility over this matter, the Pheu Thai Party was likely to sue the concerned officials for malfeasance. He claimed that the EC had issued the “orange card” against Surapol after just a little over an hour of discussion.
“The court stated that this was an abuse of power. It was persecution meant to cause damage to the candidate [Surapol],” the lawyer said.
In the 2019 general election, Surapol came first with 52,165 votes, followed by Naret Thamrongthippayakul of the Palang Pracharath Party (39,221 votes) and Srinual Boonlue of the opposition Future Forward Party (29,556 votes).
Srinual won the new election, but she later defected to the coalition Bhumjaithai Party after Future Forward was dissolved and most of its MPs moved to the opposition Move Forward Party.
The reading of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the case of alleged abuse of power by former Department of Special Investigation (DSI) chief Tharit Pengdit was postponed after he informed the court he is being treated for Covid-19.
The Supreme Court scheduled Thursday for the Criminal Court to read the final verdict against Tharit and three other DSI officers – Pol Lt-Colonel Wannapong Kotcharak, Pol Major Yutthana Phraedum and Pol Captain Piya Raksakul.
But Tharit sent an appeal to the court, claiming he needs to receive treatment for Covid-19 for three months.
The four defendants were charged under Section 157 of the Criminal Code for alleged abuse of authority. The charges were filed with the Criminal Court by former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and ex-deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban.
In March 2020, the Appeals Court overturned the lower court’s acquittal of the four defendants and instead sentenced them to two years in prison for abuse of authority after they filed murder charges against Abhisit and Suthep following a crackdown on red-shirt protests in 2011/12. The court found them guilty of abuse of authority in favour of the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
The defendants appealed against the ruling and the Supreme Court sent its final decision to the Criminal Court for a reading on Thursday.
Abhisit’s lawyer Paibul Phonoi said Tharit actually sent three appeals to the Criminal Court on Thursday.
In the first, Tharit asked the court to send an additional defence document to the Supreme Court for consideration. Paibul said the plaintiffs objected to the first appeal on ground that all defence documents should have been submitted to the court since the trial was carried out by the primary court instead of being sent after the Supreme Court made its final ruling.
In the second appeal, Tharit offered to deposit 300,000 baht as compensation to the two plaintiffs. Paibul said the plaintiffs also objected to the second appeal on grounds that they did not want money from Tharit.
The lawyer said the plaintiffs did not object to the postponement of the verdict reading because Tharit attached a medical certificate that proved he had been infected.
But the plaintiffs believe the three-month delay would be too long so they asked the court to read the verdict in absentia of Tharit.
The Criminal Court said it has yet to consult the Supreme Court on whether the verdict can be read in absentia before scheduling a new date for the reading.
The Pheu Thai Party’s economic team met with Chinese diplomats on Wednesday to discuss guidelines on how to achieve economic recovery if the party wins the general election, vice chairman of its Strategic Committee Pichai Naripthaphan said after a visit to the Chinese Embassy.
The team included Loei MP Lertsak Pattanachaikul, Nong Khai MP Krisda Tanterdtit and party executive director Pachara Naripthaphan.
They met Minister Counsellor Wang Liping (Economic and Commercial Affairs), adviser Peng Fei, second secretary Ge Jian, third secretary Lui Haiyun, and Attaché Wu Fei.
The team sought opinions on the direction of China’s Yuan currency, which is being increasingly used in the oil trade, and Chinese investment.
They also discussed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war and China’s plan to invest in several Southeast Asian countries as well as other nations.
China is the biggest market for Thai exports and second in investment, but Thailand still needs to attract more Chinese investment.
Also, the high-speed rail connecting Nong Khai to Vientiane, Laos, and Chinese cities needs to be finished as soon as possible to facilitate increased exports.
The team also discussed electric vehicles, power generation from solar energy and Chinese technology know-how, especially digital platforms.
Pichai said both sides received “beneficial information and opinions”.
He said the team hopes to use the information if the party wins the general election.
Pannika Wanich, a leading member of the Progressive Movement, went to the Phayathai police station on Thursday to seek clarification over an order for the Consular Affairs Department to revoke her passport.
Speaking to reporters at the station, Pannika said she found out about the order on Wednesday when she went to a passport office in Pathumwan district to renew her passport.
She said officials unsuccessfully tried several times to renew her passport so they checked with the Consular Affairs Department and found out about the order from the Phayathai police station.
The order, signed on April 19 last year by the deputy chief of the station, Pol Lt-Colonel Baramee Wong-inta, instructed the department to revoke the passports of Pannika and two other Progressive Movement leaders – Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul.
The order states that the three are facing a sedition charge for violating Section 116 of the Criminal Code. Suwit Thongprasert, former monk Phra Puttha Isara, had filed a complaint against the three, accusing them of violating Section 116 during political campaigns when they were members of the Future Forward Party.
Kannika said the case had not been sent by public prosecutors to court yet so the court had not issued any order to ban the three from leaving the country.
She said she understood that the Consular Affairs Department only partially provided cooperation to police because the department did not revoke the active passports of the three but simply refused to renew Kannika’s after it expired.
She said Piyabutr could travel out of the country recently because his passport was not revoked although the police order was issued last year. But she was not sure whether he would face any trouble when he returned to the country.
Kannika said she suspected that police selectively sought the passport revocation of the three Progressive Movement leaders because they were opponents of the government.
She backed up her suspicion by pointing out that more than 300 people have been charged with violating the lese majesty law under Section 112 of the Criminal Code and Section 116 during the past three years. She said it was impossible for police to revoke the passports of all of them.
Pannika said she would ask the police station which exact articles of which law it invoked to issue the order.
Surapol, a seven-time MP from Chiang Mai, was re-elected in the March 2019 general election. But the EC ruled that he had violated the law by giving THB2,000 and a clock to a prominent local monk. The law forbids election candidates from promising cash or other benefits, directly and indirectly, to communities, temples or schools.
The lawyer said the plaintiffs did not object to the postponement of the verdict reading because Tharit attached a medical certificate that proved he had been infected.
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