Ayasit Srisuwan of Thailand’s Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) won the by-election for the vacant Constituency 3 of Nakhon Si Thammarat province held on March 7, wresting the member of Parliament (MP) seat from coalition partner Democrat Party.

The Election Commission announced the unofficial vote count at 10:30pm on March 7. Ayasit received 48,701 votes, followed by Phongsin Senpong of Democrat Party with 44,632 votes, Sarawut Suwanrat from Kla Party 6,216 votes, and Apirat Rattanaphan from Thai Liberal Party at 2,302 votes.

The by-election on March 7 saw a turnout of 105,468 out of 152,020 eligible voters, or 69.38 per cent. Of the total ballots cast, 1.66 per cent were voided while 1.77 per cent of voters did not vote for any candidate.

The by-election was held after Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong was disqualified by the Constitutional Court earlier this year. He was found guilty of election fraud by the Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial court.

He has appealed against that conviction.

The Democrats fielded his brother, Phongsin, as candidate for the by-election, but he finished second.

THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK