Police will be on the lookout for incidents of vote-buying on Sunday followings allegations of the election law malpractice in three highly competitive provinces.
Speaking after a meeting with election officials, national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas on Saturday confirmed the arrest of a man in Bueng Kan on a charge of vote-buying.
He said evidence gathered during the arrest included money and ID cards. He has told the provincial police chief to coordinate with election officials on the case.
Pol Gen Damrongsak said checkpoints are up and running in the areas where vote-buying is suspected with rapid response teams on stand-by to look into complaints.
According to the national police chief, the most closely fought provinces are expected to include Samut Prakan, Nakhon Sawan, Chon Buri, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ratchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
According to a police source, the Bueng Kan incident occurred on May 10 in Ban Thung Khla of tambon Wang Chom Phu in Phon Charoen district.
Police nabbed a man and seized from him 22 500-baht notes and a list of residents. The suspect admitted that he was supposed to give the money to villagers on the list in exchange for their support for a candidate in Constituency 3. He was charged with vote-buying and temporarily released.
Constituency 3 is a new constituency, covering areas in the three districts of Phon Charoen, So Phisai and Pak Khat, where candidates from three major parties are running neck-and-neck.
Meanwhile, two more allegations were made in Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Phanom on Friday.
In Kanchanaburi's Muang district, an assistant to village head was arrested after trying to pay off election volunteers who showed up at her house to investigate a claim about vote-buying.
The volunteers conducted a search and found money and a list of voters in her possession and filed a complaint with police. The suspect was also taken by authorities to give a statement to the provincial election office.
In Nakhon Phanom, a registered election campaign assistant was accused by a rapid-response team looking into reports of vote-buying in Ban Nong Hai of tambon Ramrat in Tha Uthen district.
Local officials found 195,000-baht cash in 500-baht and 1,000-baht notes in the his bag and filed a complaint against him.
However, the man denied any vote-buying attempts, saying he was buying stock for his grocery store.
