Thanyarat wins Senatorial race

PHUKET: Thanyarat “Gee” Achariyachai is Phuket’s first woman Senator, after winning yesterday’s Senatorial election by a convincing margin.

K. Thanyarat, a former Juvenile Court Judge and wife of former Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Pamuke Achariyachai, polled 34,142 votes.

In second place was Prawat Suwannadithakul with 28,539, followed by Dr Prasit Koeysiripong with 14,198 votes.

Vote counts for the other candidates in the race were:

Uthai Suksirisamphan 6,431 votes; Cherdchai Wongseree 6,419 votes; Banlue Aiyara 2,531 votes; Akkrawat Jitharn 2,005 votes; Kanit Vinijpairoj 1,338 votes; Adirek Engchuan 752 votes; and Maliwan Jindawong 405 votes.

A total of 20,566 voters – 17% of all those eligible – ticked the “No vote” box on the ballot. There were also 3,391 spoiled ballots.

Of 203,983 eligible voters, 120,914, or 59%, turned out for the poll.

One reason for the low turnout may have been that the Election Commission earlier announced that voting in either yesterday’s Senatorial election or the April 2 Parliamentary election would allow voters to maintain their voting rights without having to re-register.

Normally, anyone not voting in any election would automatically drop off the electoral roll and would have to re-register in order to vote again.