Thai provinces proceed with general election preparations

BANGKOK, January 20 (TNA) - Despite pressure by anti-government protesters to disrupt the new general election, set on February 2, 2014, several Thai provinces have proceeded with their preparations for the upcoming national poll. Permanent Secretary for Interior Viboon Sa-nguanpong chaired a meeting of concerned provincial authorities in Bangkok on Monday to make preparations for the forthcoming general election. The meeting discussed ways the concerned authorities can cooperate with each other to make the new general election run smoothly. Viboon told the administrative authorities that they have responsibility to provide services to people and if they did not work in line with the policy, people would suffer. In Trang Province in the Thai South, Surapol Vichaidit, provincial election commission (EC) chairman, is, meanwhile, preparing to organise advance voting, set to be held on January 26, and EC officials in all four constituencies in the province are working efficiently despite pressure by local anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protesters to sabotage the upcoming national poll. EC officials in Trang need to recruit more than 1,000 workers to station at all 889 provincial polling booths. There are a total of 305,578 eligible voters in Trang alone. In Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, civil servants and officials tasked with organising the new general election are working as usual and posters have been erected to invite local eligible voters to exercise their right.(TNA)