Apichat Sukakkanon, chairman of the Election
Commission, presides over the random drawing to determine where each
political party will be listed on the July 3 ballot.
Phasakorn Channgam
Officials from the new, Palang Chon “Chonburi Power”
Party said they were pleased to have won the sixth slot on ballots for
July’s general election.
Twenty-six political parties will field candidates in the July 3 vote
for parliament. In a random drawing, the ruling Democratic Party won the
right to be listed 10th and leading opposition party Puea Thai won the
coveted first slot. Pundits believe parties listed higher on the ballot
garner more votes.
Palang Chon, backed by Chonburi’s homegrown political Kunplome dynasty,
will field 20 candidates, including Sukumol Kunplome, wife of Sonthaya
Kunplome, who was banned from politics for five years after serving as
Tourism & Sports minister for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Other Palang Chon candidates include former Pattaya Mayor Niran
Wattanasartsathorn and Poramate Ngampichet, son of former cabinet
minister Sansak Ngampichet.
More than 2,000 people turned out at Bangkok’s Thai-Japan Youth Sports
Center to watch the ballot lottery. The mood was both festive and tense,
with many believing the fate of their factions depended on how far down
the long list of parties they would land.
Cheers and jubilant laughter broke out when Puea Thai, still backed by
Thaksin, pulled the No. 1 ball from the hopper. Hoping to return to
power after being stripped of the premiership by courts in 2008, Puea
Thai officials saw it as a sign of good things to come.
Puea Thai has named Thaksin’s sister, Yinglak Shinawatra, as its leader.
If the red shirt backed party wins a majority in the July poll, the
woman Thaksin this month called his “clone” will become Thailand’s first
female prime minister.
In other lottery results, the Bhum Jai Thai Party, which the Kunplome
clan left this month in a show of independence from the ruling
coalition, won ballot slot No. 16. Major coalition partner Chat Thai
Pattana will be listed 21st.
