Campaigning for provincial council heats up

PHUKET: Elections for 24 seats on the Provincial Administrative Council (OrBorJor) will take place across Phuket on February 5. With all seats being contested by at least two candidates, sound trucks have been out in force throughout the island, with campaign teams putting up posters and handing out candidate biographies and manifestoes to as many voters as possible. In Muang District, 35 candidates are competing for 15 seats. Each of the two main parties in the district, the Pattana Tongtin Party and the OrBorJor Khao Mai Party, is fielding a full 15 candidates, and there are also five independent candidates. In Kathu District, six independent candidates, who have banded together into two informal teams of three each, are competing for the district’s three seats. And in Talang District, which has six seats in the OrBorJor, there are 16 candidates: six from the Talang Group Party, five from the Muang Song Ya Party, and five independents. Phuket’s 164,026 registered voters are expected to vote for personalities rather than ideologies; the parties’ platforms are almost indistinguishable, with all promising to create jobs, support the tourism industry and encourage investment in Phuket. Polling officials expect turnout to be around 50%.