50% voter turn out, 58% YES and 41 % NO .
Today of course is the referendum on the new draft Constitution for Thailand. It's now 18:00 so the polls are closed and the counting has begun. So far there isn't any news of bombs trouble in the south.
18:13 Well the first challenge of blogging this is trying to find a TV channel that can provide me with a graphic breakdown of the vote.
Channel 7 seems to have the least confusing graphics so I'll stay here for now. The talking heads are talking away and they seem to be rolling the result through the various districts. So far it would appear to be a pretty close vote. The "No" votes seem more weighted in the north which isn't a big surprise.
18:30 According to ITV the results at this point are 2,166,702 Yes and 1,475,774 No.
It looks like only 20 % of the votes have been counted st this point.
I would say that for the news staff yellow shirts are beating yellow ties by a ratio of 3/1.
18:46 It would looks like the various districts in Bangkok are leaning 75% towards the Yes. That is no surprise.
18:58 I must eat... back in about an hour...
19:24 There are some reports of 'destroyed ballots' but I didn't catch where it was. There seems a fair number of purposely spoiled ballots too. It's hard to conceive that someone would screw up the ballot accidently since they had instructions laid out pretty clearly on the yellow book that outlines the draft Constitution, as well as at the polling stations.
20:06 Well I'd say another hour and the results will be complete. I'm curious as to what the turn out was.
Some channels have got their priorities straight. They're still running results at the bottom of the screen but they are playing the beloved Korean period soap operas that are so popular.
20:30 I have to say it's weird to see a vote conducted in a place where the whole country is in the same time zone.
Thai Rak Thai accused of paying people not to vote at all or spoil their ballots. The government was hoping for a 60 % turn out. The lower the turn out the less "legit" the vote appears. Thus what's being called "not vote buying".
"Unofficial Results" are 50% voter turn out, and 58% YES vote.
The offical results are expected to released by tomorrow night by 18:30.
21:03 The Election Officals are giving the unofficial results. They stand at 58 % voting Yes and 41 % voting no. 2% of the ballots were "spoiled".
An interesting note. in the "restive south"... 85% voted yes.
So folks that is that. I'll post further updates tomorrow.
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