Official results show 61.35% backed charter
THE Election Commission (EC) yesterday announced the official final results of Sunday’s referendum with the outcome remaining the same as revealed by the initial results.
The EC also said that there were no complaints against the voting. The official result shows the majority voted “Yes” for both questions.
According to the official results, 61.35 per cent of those who voted marked “Yes” for the charter and 38.65 marked “No” while 58.07 per cent approved allowing unelected senators to join members of parliament in selecting the next prime minister, while 41.93 per cent disapproved.
Three southern provinces saw the highest proportion of “Yes” votes with 90.04 per cent in Chumphon, 88.05 per cent in Nakhon Si Thammarat, and 88.03 per cent in Phuket. These three provinces also offered the biggest backing for the additional question.
The 59.40-per-cent turnout at this year’s referendum is higher than the 57 per cent for the 2007 referendum on the charter. Lampoon, which saw the highest turnout in the 2007 referendum, also reported the highest turnout of 76.47 per cent on Sunday.
EC member Somchi Srisutthi-yakorn said no province reported a turnout below 50 per cent, compared to the 2007 referendum.
Invalid ballots constituted 3.15 per cent of total votes, which was higher than the 1.94 per cent in the 2007 referendum. The three southern border provinces had the highest proportion of invalid ballots -7.43 per cent in Pattani, 7.11 per cent in Narathiwat, and 6.54 per cent in Yala.
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