The Election Commission will step up its campaign encouraging voters to take part in the Aug 7 charter referendum and hopes for a turnout of at least 80%, Pravich Rattanapian, an EC member in charge of public participation, said on Tuesday.
Mr Pravich said this in his speech while chairing the opening of a training course for the second batch of teachers to be deployed to promote public understanding of the referendum.
He said the EC targeted an 80% turnout, higher than the 57% in the 2007 charter referendum. Average voter turnout for general elections was 60-70%, he said.
Mr Pravich said referendum campaigners are required to go to every village and knock the door of every house and explain to all voters how to vote without making the ballot invalid.
They would certainly be asked about the substances of the Referendum Act and they must be able to explain, he added.
He said the officials who will decide who has committed offences under Section 61 of the Referendum Act are police, prosecutors and the court.
Section 61 says anyone who disseminates in newspapers, radio or TV broadcasts, electronic media or other channels, messages, pictures, sounds that are "inconsistent with the truth" or delivered in a violent, aggressive, rude, provocative or threatening way that could "prevent a voter from casting a ballot" are considered to be disrupting the referendum and liable to a maximum prison term of 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht.
Mr Pravich said an unofficial result of the referendum was expected to be known by 7pm on Aug 7.
Voters who wish to cast a ballot outside their home province have 37 more days to register for this right, he said.
Provincial chambers of commerce and industry offices would be asked to coordinate with companies to allow their employees to use their computers to register to vote outside their home constituencies on the internet.
He hoped more people would register for this right in the next two weeks.
Mr Pravich said the EC welcomed the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship's plan to set up centres to watch for referendum fraud throughout the country and help campaign for public paticipation. The UDD campaign volunteers were required to strictly abide by the Referendum Act.
