Itthiphon", the chairman of the Election Commission, has set up strict measures to control the election of the mayor of Ratchaburi Provincial Administrative Organization, organizing a mobile unit to search for news to prevent corruption, setting up criteria for the establishment of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA), prohibiting any involvement with candidates. Sala Pracharuamjai, Ratchaburi Municipality, Mueang Ratchaburi District, Ratchaburi Province Today (30 August), Mr. Ittiporn Boonprakong, Chairman of the Election Commission, gave an interview about the readiness for the election of the president of the Ratchaburi Provincial Administrative Organization, which will be held on Sunday, 1 September. He said that today is the training of the Election Commission (EC) members, which the EC office in Ratchaburi Province has organized for 1,149 EC members, totaling 8,043 EC members. This is a process that the EC conducts every time before an election to ensure that those who perform their duties gain knowledge and understanding so that they can perform their duties in accordance with the law and regulations as specified. Although many people have performed their duties as EC members before, it is necessary every time to emphasize the points to avoid mistakes. Therefore, it is part of the process of preparing for the election in the final stretch before the election on Sunday, 1 September. Mr. Itthiporn also said that tomorrow (August 31) there will be a process of distributing materials, equipment related to elections and ballots, which will be distributed to every MWA unit. From what he saw, every process is ready because we have had continuous elections since 2019. At the same time, both the lecturers and the listeners of the lecture gave importance to it, believing that they are well aware of the duties and are well aware of performing their duties in accordance with the law and regulations in every respect. Reporters asked about the news of attacks and vote buying. Mr. Itthiphon continued that in ev ery election, the EC places importance on prevention, suppression, and suppression of actions that may violate the law. The Ratchaburi EC has continuously cooperated and coordinated with the Provincial Police Commander of Ratchaburi Province. Both the EC and the police have given importance. In addition, 5 mobile units have been deployed to continuously patrol the area to find news, investigate, and prevent wrongdoing. At present, there is only news, but there is no factual evidence that such wrongdoing has been done. When asked about the case of the polling station complaining that relatives of village headmen and kamnans were used to operate without outsiders, Mr. Itthiphon said that those who are interested can actually apply to be MWA members. However, in the past, we have given people who are well-known and accepted in the area, and of course village headmen and kamnans are part of it. In the past, we have given these people MWA members all the time. In addition, there were complaints about the MWA's pe rformance in the past elections. Therefore, the EC meeting resolved to set the principle that the appointment of a person to be a MWA member should not be someone related to the candidate. There is no law prohibiting relatives, and there have been no problems with this in the past. At present, there have been no reports of problems with the appointment of relatives. 'The establishment of the local MWA is the duty of the local election director. Importantly, we must appoint a person whom we trust will perform their duties according to the law. It is not that when there is news or news, we will tarnish him. It is not possible. But if there is clear evidence, we will not appoint him,' said Mr. Itthiphon. When asked if he would like to leave any warning, the EC chairman said that there are various prohibitions that should be avoided during the election, especially when going to vote, do not take a photo of the ballot or send a photo of the ballot, which is considered illegal. Also, according to the Local Govern ment Election Act, Section 123 states that from 6:00 p.m. the day before the election until 6:00 p.m. on the election day, it is prohibited to sell or distribute alcoholic beverages because it would be illegal. This is a long-standing practice. Mr. Itthiphon also said that he would like to invite the people in the election to participate in checking the performance of all the officials by coming to observe the election at the polling station at all times because the participation of the people will make the election more honest, transparent and lawful. Source: Thai News Agency