Here is a quick mapping of the initial count of the constituency results, before any disqualifications and reruns.
One dot is one MP. Where a province is split into several constituencies, the internal khet boundaries are not shown but the dots are inside them.
As in 2005 and 2006, TTT/PPP remains solid in the upper north, and the upper and lower-central part of the northeast.
The Democrats made significant gains in Bangkok, the eastern seaboard, the lower north, and the Ubon area. These are all areas where they have had some footing in the past. The one real surprise is Chonburi where the Democrats completely displaced the Khunploem faction.
Chat Thai continues to have a strong base in Suphan and its surrounding provinces. The fiefdoms of Suwat and Snoh have really shrunk. All the new parties (Matchima, Ruamjai, Phua Phaendin) managed to collect only a few opportunistic defectors.
In the ‘loyalist areas’ (south and city for DP, upper north and core northeast for PPP, Suphan-and-around for Chat Thai), there was clearly voting by team: all two/three candidates of the winning party got very similar numbers of votes.
In the south and lower north, voting seems to have been more personal. In over half of the constituencies here, the MPs returned come from two or three different parties.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Srithanonchai // Dec 27, 2007 at 5:55 pm
The link doesn’t work, and the results seem to have disappeared from the ECT web site.
2 Republican // Dec 28, 2007 at 12:42 am
Why the monarchy needs to be neutralized if Thailand is to have democracy - headline from ผู้จัดการ :
รมว.กห.ย้ำเหล่าทัพน้อมนำพระบรมราโชวาทปฏิบัติ - เดินหน้าซื้อเครื่องบินและรถยานเกราะล้อยาง
โดย ผู้จัดการออนไลน์ 27 ธันวาคม 2550 14:39 น.
[http://www.norsorpor.com/go2.php?t=mg&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.manager.co.th%2FHome%2FViewNews.aspx%3FNewsID%3D9500000154237]
3 Sajal Kayan // Dec 28, 2007 at 3:13 am
Interesting map. Wonder how PPP managed to secure 2 seats in the deep south.
4 screwtheuselesselection // Dec 28, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Answer to the above, by buying a complete political faction. Whether PPP and the Wadah Faction really have much in common is very debatable. And Wadah enjoys less support than in some previous elections, as they have partly discredited themselves by clinging to Thaksin during a time in which he made the region’s unrest even worse. But, in fairness, this business of buying out factions and running parties with no real policy (except to exploit) is hardly a PPP/TRT phenomenon alone.
My information about Wadah, from those who have met them, is that they are essentially separatists who voice their support for continuing Thai rule of the deep south for the purposes of cementing their own power and wealth. On that level, they DO have something in common with PPP/TRT.
5 fall // Dec 28, 2007 at 5:07 pm
The proportion of constituency MPs and proportionate MPs is interesting, to say the least. The Dems grab 132 constituency seats and 33 proportionate seats, while PPP got 198 constituency seats and 34 proportionate seats.
Have people been voting for PPP constituency MPs while ticking for Dems proportionate MPs? A strange two way voter we have got.
Have the advance voting score really be siphon from PPP to the Dems, or vice versa? The question is what will PPP do about it? Or what will the Dems do?
6 jonfernquest // Dec 28, 2007 at 7:13 pm
IMHO Mapping like that with a threshhold point at 50% doesn’t show how divided things actually were.
As I remember the election returns there were often like 45%-55% or 40%-60%.
Only gradations of shading in the mapping could probably show this.
Calling anti-PPP a “minority” as I’ve seen doesn’t really capture the divided reality of things.
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