Chadchart Sittipunt was certified today as Bangkok’s next governor, ending concern that his landslide victory would be overturned on a technicality.
Ittiporn Boonprakong, chairman of the Election Commission, announced at around 3pm that the body had confirmed 56-year-old former transport minister Chadchart would become the capital’s 17th governor with a total of 1,386,215 votes.
The Election Commission has been under scrutiny since yesterday when it failed to deliver a routine certification of Chadchart’s historic win in the first gubernatorial election in nine years. #WTFiswrongwithEC was spreading Tuesday on Thai Twitter.
Until this afternoon, clouds had been gathering over the likelihood the commission would block Chadchart from becoming governor despite the centrist candidate winning massive support from the electorate. The commission said it had to review complaints filed by serial petitioner Srisuwan Janya claiming Chadchart had violated election law and “insulted” the government by criticizing the entrenched bureaucracy.
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