City dwellers urged to vote on May 22

Poll for Bangkok governor looms

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) kicked off a campaign yesterday to encourage eligible city residents to cast their votes in the governor election set for May 22.

City clerk Khachit Chatchawanit, who led the launch of the campaign at City Hall, said all 50 districts will launch their own activities aimed at attracting a large voter turnout to elect a new governor and city councillors.

The district-level campaign gets underway tomorrow in Bang Kae and surrounding districts in the south of Bangkok.

The activities will continue until May 20 when the campaign is wrapped up outside the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre and the CentralWorld shopping complex in Pathumwan district.

All 50 district offices will target market areas and shopping centres as part of the campaign.

Mr Khachit said there are more than four million eligible voters in Bangkok who are being counted upon to elect the most capable leader and councillors to run the city’s affairs.

Eligible voters must be at least 18 years of age on election day. To be eligible they must also be noted as a tenant under Bangkok household registration for a continuous period of at least up to a year up to the election day.

Polling stations in the city will be open from 8am to 5pm on election day.

Meanwhile, Sakoltee Phattiyakul, an independent candidate, intensified his election canvassing by saying he would improve how BMA handles its finances.

The former deputy Bangkok governor said the BMA’s annual budget of around 80 billion baht may sound like a lot of money. However, when fixed expenses, such as BMA officials’ salaries were deducted, City Hall is left with barely 20 billion baht to contend with.

The already small workable budget shrank to a little more than 10 billion baht last year as a result of the economic doldrums brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

“That’s hardly enough to keep the developmental projects afloat,” Mr Sakoltee said.

What the BMA needs is to find ways to make more income instead of waiting for government subsidies, he said, adding he has designed a revenuegenerating model that suits the BMA.

Mr Sakoltee also said he would be more prudent with how the BMA spends its budget if he was elected governor.