Exit Polls : Former Bangkok governor Apirak re-elected

Written by Writer on Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Exit Polls : Former Bangkok governor Apirak re-elected

BANGKOK, Oct 5 (TNA) - Former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin of the opposition Democrat Party was re-elected Sunday to another four-year term following the close of the voting stations in the Bangkok governor election, according to exit polls conducted by two public opinion monitoring agencies.

Mr. Apirak was ranked first by both the ABAC and the Dusit polls, earning 44 and 52 per cent respectively of all eligible voters who exercised their right to vote at polling booths in Bangkok’s 50 districts.

Prapat Chongsanguan, who contested under the banner of the People Power Party at the core of the ruling government, placed second as he received nearly 24 per cent in the ABAC poll and 23 per cent in the Dusit poll, in result which indicated the integrity of the measurement process.

Mr. Prapat was formerly governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand.

Chuwit Kamolvisit, a former massage parlour tycoon, who contested as an independent scored 14 per cent of the vote and placed third in the ABAC Poll. He received 12 per cent and also ranked third in the exit poll conducd by Dusit Poll.

Ranking fourth was economist and academic Kriangsak Charoenwongsak who also contested as an independent. He received almost 13 per cent according to ABAC’s assessment and over 11 per cent by the ABAC and Dusit polls respectively.

A total of 16 candidates — 13 men and three women — contested the Bangkok gubernatorial election. Only Mr. Apirak and Mr. Prapat ran under political party endorsement, while the rest were independent.

Official results of the election are due to be released by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration on Monday. (TNA)