FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

EC member fears voters ill-informed will vote ‘irrational'

EC member fears voters ill-informed will vote ‘irrational'

MANY eligible voters are ill-informed about the draft constitution and are likely to base their decision on irrational belief rather than objective judgement, Election Commission (EC) member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said yesterday.

What voters should know about are the key points of the draft charter, and they should then weigh in their minds whether or not it is a good document overall when deciding how to vote in the upcoming referendum, he added.
Somchai said voters also did not understand everything about the charter when the previous referendum in 2007 took place. However, understanding everything about the entire draft was not necessary, anyway, he stressed. 
The referendum on the draft constitution will be held next Sunday, and the official results can be announced within three days of the nationwide vote, he said. 
Unofficial results, however, could be available four hours after the poll closes, he added.
The EC member also said public influencers such as politicians and opinion leaders should not attempt to sway voters. It would hurt the country if people did not make a decision logically, but only mindlessly followed “irrational influence”, he added.
Somchai also said that until August 7, there was time to disseminate useful information to the public. 
The EC aims for at least 80 per cent of the Kingdom’s eligible voters to turn out, and the agency’s success would be determined by whether the turnout rate is higher than in 2007, when it was 57 per cent, he said.
“If the number is smaller than that, then it means that our performance has been problematic,” Somchai told reporters. 
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry has ordered its agencies nationwide to promote the referendum, disseminate correct information about the draft, and encourage voters to take part in related debates.
Krisada Boonrat, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said that the order followed directions provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, as well as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s recent demand for such action to be taken.
Each provincial governor will arrange the activity accordingly under a Bt150,000 budget provided by the EC. 
The appropriate date for each province to hold such events will also be decided by each governor, he said, adding that the events would be in strict accordance with the referendum law.
Pradit Yamanan, deputy director-general of the Provincial Administration Department, said that having voters understand all 279 sections of the draft was not easy to achieve. He said the army of “Kru Kor” – the information disseminators closest to the public – had reported that voters were mostly only showing interest in rights issues and seemed satisfied when they learned that they could still enjoy state welfare.
Pradit acknowledged that the state had been wrong about the online distribution of the draft. He said many people still expected the delivery of hard copies and had no access to the Internet. However, the authorities had fixed the problem by having the trainees orally explain the draft to them, the official added.
In a related development, EC member Prawit Rattanapian yesterday further explained the prohibitions ahead of the plebiscite, saying that politicians were free to express their views as long as they did not deviate from the truth.
He also advised voters against taking selfies in polling booths, adding that doing so was illegal under the referendum law.
National police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said yesterday that around 200,000 police officers would be deployed on August 7 to all 94,000 polling stations across the country, to ensure that peace and order was maintained.
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