No vote, some hope

The no-vote option would be alright if it actually took votes from the leading candidate. Given that in any constituency it requires 20 per cent of the electorate to elect a single candidate and that the anti-government faction is mainly disenfranchised for lack of counter-Pheu Thai candidates, it should require 20 per cent vote (or 50-per-cent turnout) to elect any candidate in any constituency to validate the parliament. Pheu Thai will already have “opposition” arranged in the South where it slipped up in the 2006.
It will be interesting to see if the red shirts who alleged opposition to Yingluck as No 1 candidate express their democratic freedom in the poll.
Richard Bowler
Bangkok