KHON KAEN: The ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and opposition Pheu Thai Party are urging voters to come out on Sunday to deliver a verdict on the government’s performance in a by-election considered a two-horse race.
The PPRP is fielding Somsak Khoon-ngern in Constituency 7, where Thanik Maseepitak is seeking to defend the seat for Pheu Thai. It was left vacant after the provincial court in September convicted the incumbent MP, Nawat Tohcharoeksuk, of masterminding the murder of an assistant chief of the Khon Kaen provincial administrative organisation six years ago.
Somsak Khoon-ngern, the Palang Pracharath Party candidate in Sunday’s by-election on Sunday, woos voters during a rally in Khon Kaen. (Photo by Chakkraphan Natanri)
Also contesting the seat are Pol Col Kittikoon Kanchanasakul of the Seri Ruamthai Party and Suthas Pholboon of the Pattanachart Party. But they are considered long shots.
Tipanan Sirichana, a deputy spokeswoman for the PPRP, on Friday expressed confidence that the state welfare card scheme for low-income earners is among the policies that could persuade voters to endorse the government.
“I hope people will send Khun Somsak to Parliament for change and prosperity in Khon Kaen,” said Ms Tipanan, who helped the party’s candidate campaign.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow, the PPRP enforcer who has also helped in the Khon Kaen campaign, last Sunday vowed that Pheu Thai would be dethroned this time.
But Pheu Thai chief strategist Sudarat Keyuraphan on Friday promised a landslide win for the opposition party. She said it would send a message that people in Khon Kaen wanted to end six years of suffering. She was referring to the amount of time that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has served as prime minister, dating back to the coup he staged in 2014.
“We are living with a government that has talked but never delivered action for almost six years,” she told supporters.
Although the coalition parties hold a slim majority in Parliament, one more seat from the by-election will not affect the stability of the government, regardless of who emerges as the victor.
But Khunying Sudarat said a result favoring Pheu Thai would be a message sent by voters that they want to see a change of administration.
Constituency 7 covers Mancha Khiri and Nong Rua districts with 132,000 eligible voters.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Itthiporn Boonprakong, who was in the districts for final preparations for the poll, predicted 71% of them would come out to polling stations on Sunday
“The EC is ready for this election,” he said.