Phuketians say ‘yes’ to Thailand’s draft charter

PHUKET: More than half of Phuket’s eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots yesterday over the draft constitution referendum, Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada told the Phuket Gazette today.

Almost 90 per cent of the 150,326 voters in the province voted to accept the proposed draft constitution.

Provincial Election Commission officials said they had hoped for an 80 per cent turnout at yesterday’s polls. However, Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada said that rain and heavy traffic may have prevented some from making it to the province’s 370 polling stations.

Gov Chamroen cast his own vote yesterday at Phuket Municipal Hall.

“A total of 150,326 (54 per cent) of the province’s 274,407 eligible voters turned out to vote on Sunday,” he said. “Out of that, 125,643 (88 per cent) voted ‘yes’ for the draft charter and 17,801 (nearly 12 per cent) voted ‘no’.”

Voters also overwhelmingly approved a second ballot question that would allow Senators to join Parliamentarians in selecting the Prime Minister for Thailand.

According to official figures released today, 118,969 (85 per cent) of local voters said ‘yes’ to the Senate being involved in the selection of the Prime Minister; 20,022 (14 per cent) voted ‘no’. A total of 3,181 (2 per cent) of the ballots were void, Gov Chamroen said.

If the referendum passes, the draft constitution is expected to be ratified within 30 days, said Phuket Election Commission (PEC) director Kittipong Thiengkunagrit (story here).

— Sukawin Tanthavanich