Introduction Election Coverage Analysis & Party Details     Vote Tally: Nation-wide vote tally Regional vote tally Bangkok total vote tally Bangkok vote by constituencies	Voided votes major worry for candidates running in Tak PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR SCOOTING AROUND Pa-ornrach Yodnen, Chart Thai candidate for Bangkok's constituency 6, campaigns on the back of ascooter in the Pathumwan area yesterday. — Somchai Laopaisarntaksin Tak _ The high number of invalid votes cast in the last general election in Tak province is now a major concern for the candidates contesting the three constituencies. They have taken matters into their own hands by spending a lot of campaign time in villages explaining the electoral system. Democrat candidate Chaiwut Bannawat, contesting constituency 2 which covers remote areas such as Pob Phra and Um Pang districts, said he spent about 15% of his time in urban areas and half in rural and hilltribe areas simply trying to educate people about voting. ''I want to assist the provincial election committee, which has started its campaign to educate voters but the short preparation time and distances involved make it difficult for the commission to reach everybody,'' he said. Mr Chaiwut, a sitting MP, said he often begins his speech with detailed explanations of how to vote correctly before talking about his party's local and national policies. He explains that crosses in the boxes on ballot papers are the only way to vote. No other marks or writing are acceptable. ''They make the effort to vote on the day and we want to make sure their votes mean something to someone, whether or not they vote for me,'' he said. ''Last time there was one invalid ballot where my number was crossed but someone had written 'love Chaiwut' on it, which automatically invalidated it. ''It was unfortunate a vote was lost because of a lack of understanding.'' He also explained the difference between a vote for a candidate and a vote for a party list. In the 2001 general election there were 35,000 invalid votes cast in Tak, or 16.8% of the total. This put Tak among the 10 provinces with the most invalid votes. Constituency 3, covering Mae Ramad, Tha Song Yang, Sam Ngo, Ban Tak and part of Mae Sot district, had the highest number of invalid ballots at 12,453 (21.4%). More than half the constituents live in rural and mountainous areas and are poorly educated. In two of the three constituencies, 1 and 3, the number of invalid votes was greater than the margin between the winner and runner up. Thai Rak Thai candidate Thanat Thawikuekulkit is again running in constituency 1. In 2001 he lost by just 5,000 votes to Democrat MP Thanon Tantisunthorn. There were about 10,000 invalid ballots . He said the provincial election committee should be doing more to educate voters and ensure ballots are not invalidated, which could be crucial in a close race. Vinai Intramoli, the director of the Tak provincial election committee, said the target was to reduce the number of invalid ballots to less than 10% on Feb 6.
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