Bangkok – The Democrat Party has hit a snag in the vote for its new leader, due to a technical issue. Meanwhile other parties continue rallying membership.
Voting within the Democrat party for a new leader has been postponed to November 9 after its polling units in Bangkok and the north were unable to link up with a central system. Based on the Raspberry Pi hardware and using the D-Elect application, the system is designed to defend itself against interference, making it very difficult to repair after issues arise. Voting in Bangkok and the north has been moved to the end of next week while polling in the northeast and south will still take place on November 5.
Chairman of the party’s Election Board, Chumpol Kanchana led the committee in making an apology to members but assured them the delay would not affect a major party meeting on November 11.
Elsewhere, the Future Forward Party held a media meeting to announce it will be setting off on a membership rally starting in Bangkok on November 5. It indicated its stance will be in opposition to the National Council for Peace and Order and that it won’t accept a prime minister from the council.
Responding to remarks made at the Forbes Global CEO Conference by Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak that the next prime minister may be similar to the current premier, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha said that similar does not necessarily mean the same. Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan hinted only that he agreed with DPM Somkid’s remarks while saying that a NIDA poll finding Gen Prayut should join a party if he wishes to continue in politics was an appropriate assessment. He confirmed however that he himself would not be continuing in politics after serving as DPM for close to eight years now.
On the lifting of political bans, Gen Prawit assured the parties that all political activity would be allowed by early December.
