Bangkok gubernatorial election results

Yesterday the elections for the new governor of Bangkok took place. I listed the list of all 16 candidates earlier, but as anticipated most of them had absolutely no chance.

Bangkok Post gives the unofficial results as follows

1. Apirak Kosayodhin, 991,018 votes, 45.9%
2. Prapat Chongsa-nguan, 543,488 votes, 25.2%
3. Chuwit Kamolvisit, 340,616 votes, 15.8%
4. Kriangsak Charoenwongsak, 260,051 votes, 12.1%
5. Leena Jungjanja, 6,267 votes, 0.3%

For the exotic candidates, the Wikipedia article on the elections has the complete numbers. Yet there is still one complaint to be decided by the Election Commission, which was filed by Chuwit on billboards erected by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority and which he saw as supporting Apiraks election campaign. Chuwits billboards and posters are the most interesting ones anyway, so no wonder they get featured on the satirical Not the Nation.

For a short history of the governors of Bangkok this forum post at 2bangkok gives the complete list of appointed and elected governors since the merger of the provinces Phra Nakhon and Thonburi to the Bangkok Metropolis.

The election campaigns haven't made much news in the English language press, probably due to the comfortable lead of Apirak in all the polls. Only Chuwit hitting a journalist after a TV interview even made it into the German press - when I read about this incident one of my favorite quotes by Isaac Asimov came to my mind: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent (from the book Foundation).

Leena's campaign was especially ill-fated. First she fell into the polluted Saen Saeb canal near Pratu Nam while campaigning (here's a video), and then the next day while she took a bath in another canal for a publicity stunt and one of her aides drowned.