BREAKING: Bangkok has a new governor

The Election Commission today confirmed the independent candidate, Chadchart Sittipunt, as the new Bangkok Governor.

The 56 year old won by a landslide with over a million votes, and almost 52% of the vote, on Sunday, May 22. It was the first governor’s election in 8 years and he is the 17th person to be in charge of Bangkok.

There was a 2-day delay in announcing Chadchart’s victory, which attracted a lot of criticism and attention on social media. A hashtag was trending on Twitter, gaining over 100,000 tweets since yesterday, questioning the EC’s delay.

Chadchat’s easy going character has made him popular among the city’s younger generation and was already unofficially at work trying to solve many of Bangkok’s problems before the announcement today.

The new governor was the subject of two allegations from social activist Srisuwan Janya, according to the EC committee. Srisuwan claimed the new elected governor broke the law by giving presents to voters and creating election posters that could be repurposed into bags and aprons. Srisuwan also questioned whether Chadchart had violated election laws by criticising the bureaucracy in his campaign rallies.

Chonlanan Srikaew, the leader of the Pheu Thai party, argued that the EC’s failure to certify Chadchart’s victory would destroy people’s faith in democracy. He went on to say that Chadchart’s landslide victory shows that the people want to get away from the capital’s existing problems.

Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, from the Move Forward Party, one of the many candidates for governor, questioned the delay in certification, asking whether the EC’s duty is to facilitate a fair and transparent election or if it was appointed by a dictatorship to block fair elections.

SOURCE: Thai PBS | Nation