Thai trip April - impact of elections and Songkran

[voodoo31]

Hi I just arrived in Thailand for 2 weeks and a couple of questions.

 

There is an election this Sunday 2nd April, anyone know if bars will be shut and thus nightlife activity out for that day or any days previous? Last night seemed normal.

 

Ive never experienced Songkran in Thailand before and not sure what to expect (I know people splash water around) can anyone tell me the exact dates and any impact on bars and nightlife, e.g. do many girls go back to the village / hometown over that time and thus a bit quite or is it better as everyone is in a party mood? I will be leaving Bangkok for Phuket on the 12th.

[elef]

Bars close on evening saturday and open again at midnight sunday evening. Restaurants are not allowed to sell alcohol the same time, shops the same I think. You can find open bars especially in Pattaya and also restaurants serving alcohol but try to contact to locals to find out where. Some bargirls go back home for vote already on saturday and return on monday. If they not vote they can expect to have problem in future with renewing ID-card - it will take some weeks extra - and other services they can need from authorities.

[The_Munchmaster]

voodoo31 said: Ive never experienced Songkran in Thailand before and not sure what to expect (I know people splash water around)...........

No they don't splash water around. They launch water at the highest velocity they can manage from whatever receptacle they can find. I was around for many Songkrans when I lived in LOS and grew to dislike it a lot. Getting soaked and covered in powder for one day when your prepared for it (old clothes, money/mobile in a plastic bag) is fine, but when you can't go anywhere for the rest of the week without someone trying to douse you in water it becomes a royal pain in the ass.

[Mekong]

elef said:

..... If they not vote they can expect to have problem in future with renewing ID-card - it will take some weeks extra - and other services they can need from authorities.

 

:rotfl: :rotfl:

 

Jeez I have read some fucked up opinions on this board over the years but this one takes the fuxin biscuit.

 

Since when has voting been compulsary?

[elef]

At least since the new constitution 1997

 

Under the Constitution, every person has a duty to exercise his or her right to vote at an election. The person who fails to attend an election for voting without notifying the appropriate cause of such failure will lose the following rights as provided by law:

(1) the right to challenge the result of an election for the Members of the House of Representatives, the Members of the Senate, the members of the local assembly and the local administrators;

 

(2) the right to challene the result of an election for Kamnan and the village headman under the law on local administration;

 

(3) the right to be a candidate in an election for the Members of the House of Representatives, the Members of the Senate, the members of the local assembly and the local administrators;

 

(4) the right to be a candidate in an election for Kamnan and the village headman under the law on local administration;

 

(5) the right to propose the National Assembly to consider bills under the law on the proposal of bills;

 

(6) the right to propose to local assembly to consider regulations under the law on the proposal of local regulations;

 

(7) the right to submit a petition to the Senate to remove persons from their positions under the Counter Corruption Law;

 

(8) the right to submit petition to remove the members of the local assembly or the local administrators under the law on the removal of the members of the local assembly or the local administrators.

 

The disfranchisement of rights will be in effect from the date of an election that a person fails to attend, and it shall be revoked when a person exercise his or her right to vote at the next election.

 

 

 

source

 

BTW in some countries in Europe it's also compulsory to vote, I think BB mentioned that in Belgium you're asked to go to the city hall and give an explanation why you didn't do it if you didn't.

[Nervous_Dog]

Australia has also compulsory elections,

[elef]

Mekong said:

elef said:

..... If they not vote they can expect to have problem in future with renewing ID-card - it will take some weeks extra - and other services they can need from authorities.

 

:rotfl: :rotfl:

 

Jeez I have read some fucked up opinions on this board over the years but this one takes the fuxin biscuit.

 

Since when has voting been compulsary?

 

Do you really live in Thailand? If you do that you must be a newbie!

[Mekong]

elef said:

Mekong said:

elef said:

..... If they not vote they can expect to have problem in future with renewing ID-card - it will take some weeks extra - and other services they can need from authorities.

 

:rotfl: :rotfl:

 

Jeez I have read some fucked up opinions on this board over the years but this one takes the fuxin biscuit.

 

Since when has voting been compulsary?

 

Do you really live in Thailand? If you do that you must be a newbie!

 

Only been here since 1991 I must be a newbie

 

74 per cent of Bankokians to go to vote: survey

 

 

 

About 74 per cent of Bangkok residents said they will cast vote on the Sunday's election and 14.5 per cent remain undecided, Abac Poll said Friday.

 

The remaining 11.5 per cent said they will stay home.

 

The opinion survey was conducted on Thursday from 3,006 respondents.

 

In regard to the popularity of the Thai Rak Thai Party, 34.6 per cent confirmed their party loyalty, down from 46 per cent surveyed on March 11.

 

The support for caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appeared to dissipate. The number of respondents in favour of his immediate resignation increased from 21.9 per cent to 24.7 per cent between the two surveys.

 

"The election outcome will not reflect the public judgement on the prime minister," Abac pollster Noppadon Kannika said, warning against citing the vote as shield to cling to power because the snap election was being held in unusual circumstances.

 

 

Do the maths for yourself if you are capable and that is only BKK

[Mekong]

New regulation violates individual's right to choose how a ballot is filled, judges say

 

 

The Administrative Court yesterday ruled against a regulation set by the Election Commission, which required voters to use a rubber stamp to cast their votes in the general election on Sunday. The ruling forces the EC to allow voters to cast ballots with a pen as an option.

 

 

Judge Anuwat Tharasawaeng said the EC had recently changed its rules to force voters to cast ballots by making an X mark with a rubber stamp, replacing the method that used a pen.

 

 

He said the new rule violated election law, which does not specify how a mark must be made. The EC rule therefore violated an individual's right to choose how to cast their vote.

 

 

The ruling forces the EC to allow voters to either make an X mark with a pen or with a rubber stamp when voting, which means that every polling booth must be supplied with a pen as well as a stamp.

 

 

The EC also has to publicise the fact that voters can choose how to cast their ballots, Anuwat said.

 

 

The court ruling followed the Network of Consumer Protection Foundations' appeal to nullify the rubber-stamp rule on the grounds that it would make cheating easier.

 

 

The network claimed that the use of rubber stamps would be difficult to examine on questionable ballots.

 

 

However, EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp dismissed concerns about potential irregularities. "It's not easy to forge ballots," he said.

 

 

All ballots are printed under tight security and checked carefully, he said, adding that they were kept in secure rooms after printing.

 

 

Election commissioner Prinya Nakchudtree yesterday said the EC was ready to comply with the administrative court ruling, saying the EC would hold discussions about how to provide both a pen and stamp at each ballot box.

 

 

"We won't force voters to use either a pen or rubber stamp. They can use either one on the ballot," he said.

 

 

 

If Election Commision and the courts cannor decide if pen paper or a rubber stamp constitute a cast vote how can the Tambon?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT

 

 

As I Said Jeez I hear some shite in here

[elef]

If you really are an expat I'm astonished that you're more ignorant than most newbie sextourists. On an other (Pattaya) board some of those were afraid that no bargirls stayed in Pattaya over the weekend - of course not all are going back but maybe one third.