KHON KAEN: Voters are cautioned not to wear clothes showing numbers that match those of candidates or parties when going to cast their ballots for Sunday’s general election.
Clothing bearing the names and/or logos of political parties is also not allowed under election rules, poll officials advise.
Interest in the election is running high in Khon Kaen, where authorities expect more than 80% of eligible voters to turn out.
Watchara Seesarn, director of the Election Commission office in the northeastern province, on Saturday morning led poll officials to distribute election materials and ballot boxes to staff at 178 polling stations in Constituency 1 covering Muang municipal area, tambon Phra Lab and tambon Muang Kao of Muang district amid heavy rain.
Mr Watchara said poll authorities for all 11 constituencies of Khon Kaen had already delivered election materials to all polling stations in the 26 districts of the province. Everything was now ready for Sunday’s election despite heavy downpours.
He told people wanting to exercise their voting rights not to wear clothes with numbers that were matched with those of candidates as doing so may be at risk of violating election rules.
Mr Watchara assured the public that every vote people cast would belong to the candidates and parties they voted for.
“People can be assured that every vote they cast for the general election will belong to the MP candidates and political parties they vote for,” he said.
“It’s good news that turnout for last week’s advance voting was more than 90%. Turnout for Sunday’s poll will certainly be over 80%.”
Nationwide, the Election Commission is predicting a turnout of up to 85% of the country’s 52.3 million voters, which would be a record. In 2019, voter turnout was 74.7%.
Unofficial results should be known by 11pm on Sunday on the ECT Report website, according to the commission. It said reporting of the vote counts from each constituency should be faster than during the 2019 election.
Under the law, official election results of at least 95% of the constituencies must be announced no later than 60 days after voting day.
Staff members at a polling station in Khon Kaen check ballots and other equipment for Sunday’s general election. (Photo: Chakrapan Natanri)