Local polls likely 'early next year'

Local polls likely 'early next year'

Former Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrachang reacts to supporters after his decision to contest a provincial administration organisation election in Pathum Thani province on Aug 22. (File photo by Apichit Jinakul)
Former Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrachang reacts to supporters after his decision to contest a provincial administration organisation election in Pathum Thani province on Aug 22. (File photo by Apichit Jinakul)

Local elections will likely be held early next year to fill the approximately 100,000 positions left vacant after the May 22, 2014 military coup, Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paojinda said on Tuesday.

He was responding to calls for elections to elect local leaders including the Bangkok governor, presidents of provincial administrative organisations and members of tambon administrative organisations.

Early next year should be the right time, as state agencies responsible for organising local elections will be ready by then, he said.  

The interior minister said he disagreed with calls for a new committee to be set up to study the possibility of establishing a specific ministry to direct local administrative organisations with the aim of preventing them from being manipulated politically.

Gen Anupong explained that local administrative organisations are structurally designed to function as independent entities free of manipulation.

"This isn't something to be worried about at all," he said.

Responding to the likelihood of local polls taking place early next year as suggested by Gen Anupong, some politicians foresaw no problem with the issue. 

Bunloet Buranapakon, president of the Chiang Mai provincial administrative organisation, said the proposed timing should not pose a problem since politicians have waited for years for the polls and are prepared for them.  

It would be be better to hold the elections when everything was ready than to rush them only to run into problems, he said.

He noted that voters and major political parties appeared enthusiastic about the prospect of local elections taking place in the months ahead. 

Rohim Nuandam, mayor of tambon Khwan Sao Thong municipality in Tamot district, Phatthalung province, agreed that many voters were looking forward to the local elections. He said he expected a high turnout in the local polls.

The previous election covering the tambon municipality saw a 70% turnout, he said, adding that turnout for the next local poll could top 80%.

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