THE PRO-DEMOCRACY RATSADON Group (People’s Party) organised political activity in 34 provinces where people could cast a vote of either confidence or no confidence in the Prayut government ahead of the marathon censure/no-confidence debate taking place in Parliament from Tuesday July 19 till Friday July 22, Matichon newspaper.
In Bangkok voting stations were set up in 23 districts including those at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Victory Monument and Chulalongkorn University’s political science faculty.
Reporters said the unofficial voting arranged by this activist group started across the country in the morning for a fixed duration. At Victory Monument some volunteers held placards with two messages, “Voting station for no-confidence debate against the Prayut government” and “Ballot.”
The ballot boxes were coded with details of the region and province stated. Activists at these stations used megaphones to invite people to cast their vote and people were doing so continuously.
Before casting their ballot they had to sign their name and then either put their fingerprint or cross either one of the two checkboxes, with the left one stating “confidence” and the right “no confidence.”
A the list of the voters will be later submitted to Parliament.
Mr. Thanaphat Kapheng, or Pun, an activist from Talufah group, said there is no online voting to prevent fraud with those doing so having to sign to ensure verification.
CAPTIONS:
Top: People cast their ballots in the unofficial vote for or against the Prayut government today.
Insert: The ballot used in today’s informal vote. Both photos: Matichon
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