Chamlong backs Rosana for governor

Chamlong backs Rosana for governor

Security beefed up to ensure fair election

Supporters of Bangkok governor candidate Rosana Tositrakul show her number in a campaign at Democracy Monument on Wednesday. (Photo: Rosana Tositrakul Facebook account)
Supporters of Bangkok governor candidate Rosana Tositrakul show her number in a campaign at Democracy Monument on Wednesday. (Photo: Rosana Tositrakul Facebook account)

Former Bangkok governor Chamlong Srimuang has endorsed Rosana Tositrakul for the upcoming election as the best candidate to steer the capital forward.

Maj Gen Chamlong said everyone should vote for Ms Rosana, who used to serve as a senator and gained a reputation as a consumer protection campaigner, in the upcoming gubernatorial election so she could enjoy a landslide victory.

"You will definitely not regret voting for her," he said.

Around 16,000 city police will be deployed to provide security at 6,817 polling stations in Bangkok when the election takes place on May 22.

Pol Maj Gen Rungroj Thakoonpunyasiri, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said bureau chief, Pol Lt Gen Samran Nualma, had appointed him to oversee security operations. Officers were working with the Election Commission (EC) and Bangkok's permanent secretary to train officers at the stations. Some 50 district chiefs and officers will inspect the voting equipment on May 21.

Samran Tanpanich, the election director for the capital who has been inspecting the delivery of voting equipment, said over nine million voting cards will be sent to the polling stations in two rounds a day prior to the election -- one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Polling stations in 25 districts will get the ballots in the morning, while the other 25 districts will do so later in the day.

"These ballots will be stored in safe areas with security guards monitoring them for 24-hour surveillance including CCTV cameras," Mr Samran said.

Before the ballots are brought to voters, they will be stamped with authority marks similar to other official documents in a bid to prevent counterfeiting, as per the local election law, he said. The marks will be exclusively designed by the EC.

Voting cards to elect Bangkok's governor are brown while those for used to pick new city councilors are pink.

Mr Samran told the media on Wednesday that the EC has withdrawn one Bangkok governor candidate, Sarawut Benchakul, a former secretary-general of the Office of Court of Justice, from the race as he was found to have been dismissed from his post for misconduct. His former office said he has been found guilty of corruption, making him ineligible.

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