Advanced voting test (updated)
Bangkok advanced voters can expect to find some very loud protesters outside polling booths tomorrow, "suggesting" they turn around and go home.
Bangkok advanced voters can expect to find some very loud protesters outside polling booths tomorrow, "suggesting" they turn around and go home.
Please join us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bangkokpostlearning
Suthep Thuagsuban tells PDRC protesters to be at polling stations early tomorrow morning to stress that reform needs to precede an election. PATIPAT JANTONG
Update
20:35
Luang Pu Buddha Issara announced this morning that he would led a group of his followers from the Chaeng Wattana to an undisclosed place and they would stay there overnight to protest tomorrow's advanced voting. That place, we now know, is the Lak Si district office. PATTARAPONG CHATPATTARASILL
Some of the PDRC's plans for tomorrow are now known. Probably the most visible activity will be a 1,000-bike convoy out of the Pathumwan intersection site through the heart of Bangkok to promote the idea of reform before the election. At Victory Monument Thavorn Senneam says protesters there will go to four polling stations to try to persuade voters not to cast their ballots. He says they will not disrupt the voting, however.
Meanwhile, talks between the Election Commission and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on whether to postpone the Feb 2 election are scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 14:00. A venue has not yet been chosen.
Political parties who have registered candidates for the election today voiced their opposition to a possible delay, however. Small political parties even threatened to sue the prime minister and the Election Commission if the voting does not take place.
Advanced voting test
It is not yet clear if the February 2 general election will be postponed, so tomorrow's scheduled advanced voting will go ahead. It is unlikely to be smooth, however.
Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary-general of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), said yesterday that while his protesters will not "block" Bangkok voters from entering the polling booths for advanced voting tomorrow, they will be there to express their opposition.
He suggested it would be a good idea if voters just stayed at home since PDRC protesters will be at polling stations before they open and they will be "very noisy".
Many of these protesters at Saladaeng last night are likely to be outside polling stations tomorrow. PATIPAT JANTONG
Mr Suthep urged protesters to arrive at the polling stations early in the morning on the advance voting day.
"If possible, please be there before the ballot boxes are delivered to each polling station," he said.
He said since there are only 50 polling stations in Bangkok for advance voting, it should be easy for the PDRC to hold activities at all of them.
Mr Suthep stressed that on Sunday the PDRC will campaign for reform before the election and not to disrupt the poll.
Elsewhere Mr Suthep said it would be up to the local PDRC groups to decide how to oppose tomorrow's early vote.
In the South, the opposition could be fierce. No voting at all is expected in Mr Suthep's home province of Surat Thani, for example, because of a lack of polling stations and Election Commission officials, plus the fact that the ballots are locked in a post office in Chumporn.
Story includes information from a Bangkok Post story by Pradit Ruangdit. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/391371/pdrc-will-not-block-early-voting
สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/391434/advanced-voting-test
