Paiboon trounces Anchalee in OrBorJor poll
PHUKET CITY: The preliminary count of votes cast in yesterday’s island-wide polling for the presidency of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) saw former Phuket Senator Paiboon Upatising defeat incumbent Anchalee Vanich Tephabutra by more than 20,000 votes.
An unconfirmed tally released by the Phuket Election Committee shows K. Paiboon with 59,995 votes (60.6%), compared with K. Anchalee’s total of 39,085 (34.4%).
There were only two candidates in the presidential election, while 60 candidates ran for 24 regular council seats: 15 in Muang district; six in Thalang, and three in Kathu.
Sixteen other members of K. Paiboon’s Khon Baan Rao party were also winners, giving K. Paiboon a solid majority in the provincial assembly.
The results come as a surprise given that K. Anchalee and her party ran under the banner of the powerful Democrat Party, which has dominated politics in Phuket and most of the southern region for decades.
K. Paiboon, who ran his campaign vowing for “transparency and change”, won in all three districts.
In Muang district, he garnered 32,896 votes to K. Anchalee’s 24,822.
In Thalang, Phuket’s most rural district, K. Paiboon more than doubled Anchalee’s tally, pulling in 20,047 votes to K. Anchalee’s 9,535.
In Kathu, Paiboon was also a clear winner, with almost 60% of the 11,779 votes cast.
Overall turnout was relatively low, with just over 54% of the island’s 200,717 registered voters casting ballots.
Of these, 2,253 were spoiled (2.1%), while 4,287 voters ticked the “no vote” option (3.9 %).
The Phuket Election Committee said it will confirm the result within 30 days.
