TAO elections last Sunday

Last Sunday, September 6th, were local elections in many of the Tambon administrative organizations (TAO). Since it is impossible to report on all the results, at least the English newspapers have focused on the irregularities during the election, most prominently the vote-buying.

Bangkok Post writes

Poll cheats are suspected of spending more money than ever in the elections which were held in 2,959 tambons across 74 provinces.
[...]
In the lower southern province of Trang, two election canvassers were arrested with cash they allegedly were using to buy votes.

A few quotes from The Nation have the same tone

In constituencies witnessing a tight race, the bribes reportedly soared to Bt2,000 per vote.
Some candidates handed out pre-paid telephone cards in lieu of bills.
In Trang, Ban Khlong Then police rounded up independent candidate Thawee Phuagphet on suspicion of buying votes.
Confronted by evidence seized from his home, including Bt39,300 in cash and a list of voters, Thawee admitted he was preparing to distribute the funds in order to sway votes.

Something I noticed directly when reading the two articles is the fact that the two cite different numbers of TAO which held elections. From an earlier article by Bangkok Post

People across the country go to polling stations on Sunday to elect members of 2,959 tambon administrative organisations.
The polls, in which more than 117,000 people are vying for TAO seats and more than 6,400 people are running for TAO mayoral posts, are expected to be fierce in several areas.

However, The Nations says it were 2939 TAO which held election, and also mentions that both the council as well as the chairman were elected. One of the numbers must be wrong, and in fact while The Nation has the correct number, they also left out some details. A report on the website of the parliament gives the full data:

การเลือกตั้งท้องถิ่น ระดับองค์การบริหารส่วนตำบล (อบต.) ทั่วประเทศ 74 จังหวัด รวม 2,939 แห่ง แยกเป็นเฉพาะนายก อบต. 3 แห่ง สมาชิก อบต. (ส.อบต.) 249 แห่ง และนายก อบต. และสมาชิก อบต. 2,687 แห่ง เมื่อวันที่ 6 กันยายน

Thus, there were 2939 TAO which held an election on September 6 - in three TAO only the chairman (นายก) was elected, in 249 only the council (สมาชิก อบต.) and another 2687 TAO where both chairman and council were elected.

Some preliminary results of the TAO chairmen elections I could find at Matichon, but since none of the names of the local politicians will have any meaning to the English readers I'll spare you the attempt the translate that list. The more general results in an earlier report only mention the expected - in Surat Thani 73 of 81 winning TAO chairmen were supported by the Democratic party, and in Buriram the "friends of Newin" faction also made a sweeping win. BangkokPundit also has some analysis based on that Matichon article.

New subdistricts in Bangkok

Only through monitoring the edits on Wikipedia I became aware of the fact that in Bangkok the city administration created new subdistricts (Khwaeng, แขวง). Five subdistricts, each the sole subdistrict in the corresponding district, were split, effective August 3, raising the number of subdistricts from 160 to 169.

• Wang Thonglang (แขวงวังทองหลาง), Wang Thonglang district split off the new subdistricts Saphan Song (แขวงสะพานสอง), Khlong Chao Khun Sing (แขวงคลองเจ้าคุณสิงห์) and Phlapphla (แขวงพลับพลา)
• Don Mueang (แขวงดอนเมือง), Don Mueang district, split off the new subdistrict Sanam Bin (แขวงสนามบิน)
• Bueng Kum (แขวงบึงกุ่ม), Bueng Kum district split off the subdistricts Nuamin (แขวงนวมินทร์) and Nuan Chan (แขวงนวลจันทร์)
• Bang Sue (แขวงบางซื่อ), Bang Sue districts split off the subdistrict Wong Sawang (แขวงวงศ์สว่าง)
• Khan Na Yao (แขวงคันนายาว), Khan Na Yao district split off the subdistrict Ram Intra (แขวงรามอินทรา)

I tried to find some more background on these new subdistricts, but wasn't able to find much. Prachachat gives the approximate boundaries of the new subdistricts, whereas from a Thai blog posting I could extract the date of being effective to be August 3. And finally, the report in Naewna suggest that till next year all of the districts with a single subdistrict will have new subdistricts., which means the seven districts Phra Khanong, Phaya Thai, Din Daeng, Suan Luang, Saphan Sung, Bang Na, Bang Bon.

The population of Bangkok's subdistricts varies greatly, the lowest is 2392 (Chana Songkhram, Phra Nakhon), and the median value is about 35000. Yet 10 out of the 160 subdistricts have even more than 100,000 citizen.

Population	Khwaeng	Khet
164570	Si Kan	Don Mueang
147466	Khlong Kum	Bueng Kum
145671	Bang Sue	Bang Sue
139322	Din Daeng	Din Daeng
116067	Suan Luang	Suan Luang
115685	Wang Thonglang	Wang Thonglang
102963	Bang Bon	Thawi Watthana
102122	Samae Dam	Bang Khun Thian
100474	Bang Na	Bang Na
100377	Anusaori	Bang Khen

In italics are those subdistricts already split now.

Now I wait for the announcement in the Royal Gazette, the last ones were announced in December 2003, just three days after the creation became effective. And also for the geocodes for those cases where it has more than one new subdistrict in one district, so far the CCAATT list from DOPA has not been updated.

Municipal decisions from July 3 2009

Meeting number 23 of board 1 from July 3 2009 with 24 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.

• Dan Sai, Dan Sai district, Loei province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Si Song Rak (เทศบาลตำบลศรีสองรัก), to avoid confusion with the municipality Dan Sai (เทศบาลตำบลด่านซ้าย). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 118.5 km², 14 villages and 4,480 citizen.
• Khamcha-i, Khamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Mueang Kamcha-i (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองคำชะอี), to avoid confusion with the municipality Khamcha-i (เทศบาลตำบลคำชะอี). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 240 km², 14 villages and 7,624 citizen.
• Tha Kat, Mae Tha district, Lamphun province, effective on July 30 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tha Kat Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลทากาศเหนือ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Tha Kat (เทศบาลตำบลทากาศ). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 183 km², 13 villages and 5,123 citizen.
• Laem Ngop, Laem Ngop district, Trat province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tha Kat Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลแหลมงอบ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Laem Ngop (เทศบาลตำบลแหลมงอบ). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 25 km², 7 villages and 3,575 citizen.
• Sapphaya, Sapphaya district, Chainat province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Chao Phraya (เทศบาลตำบลเจ้าพระยา), to avoid confusion with the municipality Sapphaya (เทศบาลตำบลสรรพยา). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 25 km², 7 villages and 3,575 citizen.
• Ban Laem, Bang Pla Ma district, Suphanburi province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Ban Laem Phatthana (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านแหลมพัฒนา), to avoid confusion with the municipality Ban Laem (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านแหลม). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 780 km², 4 villages and 3,302 citizen.
• Non Na Chan (เทศบาลตำบลโนนนาจาน), Na Khu district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 42 km², 9 villages and 4,717 citizen.
• Som Sa-at (เทศบาลตำบลสมสะอาด), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 16.12 km², 7 villages and 4,322 citizen.
• Na Ko (เทศบาลตำบลนาโก), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 47 km², 9 villages and 4,760 citizen.
• Lat Khwang (เทศบาลตำบลลาดขวาง), Ban Pho district, Chachoengsao province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 9.17 km², 4 villages and 2,725 citizen.
• Ban Kho (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านค้อ), Non Sang district, Nong Bua Lamphu province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 65 km², 10 villages and 5,072 citizen.
• Ta Pha Mok (เทศบาลตำบลต้าผามอก), Long district, Phrae province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 400 km², 8 villages and 4,698 citizen.
• Pratu Pa (เทศบาลตำบลประตูป่า), Mueang Lamphun district, Lamphun province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.25 km², 9 villages and 5,742 citizen.
• Si Sa Ket (เทศบาลตำบลศรีษะเกษ), Na Noi district, Nan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 287.12 km², 14 villages and 7,270 citizen.
• Dong Mada (เทศบาลตำบลดงมะดะ), Mae Lao district, Chiang Rai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 60 km², 15 villages and 7,615 citizen.
• Nong Lat (เทศบาลตำบลหนองลาด), Waritchaphum district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 37.50 km², 11 villages and 7,436 citizen.
• Rim Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลริมเหนือ), Mae Rim district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 5.07 km², 5 villages and 3,336 citizen.
• Thung Tom (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งต้อม), San Pa Tong district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.44 km², 10 villages and 5,655 citizen.
• Han Kaeo (เทศบาลตำบลหารแก้ว), Hang Dong district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 10.40 km², 9 villages and 5,830 citizen.
• Lak Liam (เทศบาลตำบลหลักเหลี่ยม), Na Mon district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 46 km², 10 villages and 5,919 citizen.
• Dong Sombun (เทศบาลตำบลดงสมบูรณ์), Tha Khantho district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 53.76 km², 9 villages and 4,587 citizen.
• Khok Yang (เทศบาลตำบลโคกย่าง), Prakhon Chai district, Buriram province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 31.46 km², 9 villages and 4,283 citizen.
• Nong Trakhrong (เทศบาลตำบลหนองตะครอง), Lahan Sai district, Buriram province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 41.90 km², 12 villages and 8,148 citizen.
• Don Khamin (เทศบาลตำบลดอนขมิ้น), Tha Makha district, Kanchanaburi province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 7 km², 6 villages and 4,311 citizen.

Additionally, the issue of Phai, Mueang Kalasin district, Kalasin province, was moved to meeting 32.

FIPS 10-3 and 10-4 codes for Thai provinces

When I noticed that the codes for the provinces used by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in the census 2000 are in fact identical with the FIPS 10-4 codes, I did a fresh look at these codes. I had mentioned them in my overlook on the various code systems used for the Thai administrative entities.

Eric Muller notified me on one peculiarity of the FIPS codes for the Thai provinces - unlike almost all other countries the codes are assigned in the alphabetical order of the romanized name.

I haven't been able to find any sources which give a rationale for the coding scheme used, from the original codes used in FIPS 10-3 it seems a geographical ordering was used. The codes start with Mae Hong Son (TH01) in the northwestern corner, then continue through the northern provinces, then the northeast, central, east and finally southern provinces, ending with Yala (TH-70) as the southernmost province. But then there are the codes 71 and 72 for Ubon Ratchathani and Yasothon out of the order, and Narathiwat being placed in between the northeastern and central provinces as TH31.

Also interesting is the fact that the province Mukdahan, which was created in 1982, was not included in the original codes, only with the change from revision 10-3 to 10-4 in 1997, together with the three other provinces created in 1992. As FIPS 10-3 dates from 1984, this change might not have propagated into the sources used for creation of these codes by then, and none of the minor changes of the 10-3 codes catched it.

As it was custom in the FIPS coding scheme, with the split of a entity both the new entity as well as the modified one both get new codes assigned. There the change to FIPS 10-4 had the following code changes

TH21	TH73	Nakhon Phanom
	TH78	Mukdahan
TH45	TH74	Prachinburi
	TH80	Sa Kaeo
TH71	TH75	Ubon Ratchathani
	TH77	Amnat Charoen
TH19	TH76	Udon Thani
	TH79	Nong Bua Lamphu

Now going into speculation mode, maybe the fact that Ubon Ratchathani and Yasothon were placed at the end derives from the fact these two were split in 1972. Maybe there was a code list predating these FIPS 10-3 codes where Ubon Ratchathani had the TH31, and to prevent a renumbering of all the following codes after the split the two were placed at the end, and Narathiwat instead moved into the hole. But only an insider of the committees responsible for maintaining the FIPS 10 codes could shed a light on this oddity. And sadly none of the older FIPS codes beyond the 10-3 are available online, the best I could find was a list of changes to the country codes from the statoids website. It's odd that Google Books or similar don't have these Public Domain texts scanned yet.

But anyway the whole thing is like beating a dead horse - the FIPS codes are no longer maintained and the move to the ISO 3166 codes is recommended.

Municipal decisions from July 1 2009

Meeting number 22 of board 1 from July 1 2009 with 13 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.

• Khok Samran (เทศบาลตำบลโคกสำราญ), Loeng Nok Tha district, Yasothon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 85 km², 15 villages and 10,309 citizen.
• Nong Ya Sai (เทศบาลตำบลหนองหญ้าไซ), Wang Sam Mo district, Udon Thani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 56.65 km², 9 villages and 7,632 citizen.
• Nong Kung Thap Ma (เทศบาลตำบลหนองกุงทับม้า), Wang Sam Mo district, Udon Thani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 143 km², 11 villages and 7,777 citizen.
• Tha Thung Luang (เทศบาลตำบลทาทุ่งหลวง), Mae Tha district, Lamphun province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 32 km², 6 villages and 3,936 citizen.
• Nong I But (เทศบาลตำบลหนองอีบุตร), Huai Phueng district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 36.63 km², 8 villages and 4,924 citizen.
• Chaiyamontri (เทศบาลตำบลไชยมนตรี), Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 24.04 km², 5 villages and 6,407 citizen.
• Ban Chian (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านเชี่ยน), Hankha district, Chainat province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 82 km², 12 villages and 8,979 citizen.
• Hua Taphan, Hua Taphan district, Amnat Charoen province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Rattanawari - Si Charoen (เทศบาลตำบลรัตนวารี-ศรีเจริญ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Hua Taphan (เทศบาลตำบลหัวตะพาน). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 48.02 km², 16 villages and 4,394 citizen.
• Amnat, Lue Amnat district, Amnat Charoen province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Sam Nong (เทศบาลตำบลสามหนอง), to avoid confusion with the municipality Amnat (เทศบาลตำบลอำนาจ). The TAO was created in 1996, covers 23.22 km², 6 villages and 2,768 citizen.
• Saeng Sawang, Nong Saeng district, Udon Thani province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tho Saeng Sawang (เทศบาลตำบลทอแสงสว่าง), to avoid confusion with the municipality Saeng Sawang (เทศบาลตำบลแสงสว่าง). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 118 km², 4 villages and 3,481 citizen.
• Mae Suai, Mae Suai district, Chiang Rai province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Wiang Suai (เทศบาลตำบลเวียงสรวย), to avoid confusion with the municipality Mae Suai (เทศบาลตำบลแม่สรวย). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 150.5 km², 15 villages and 7,554 citizen.
• Sai Ngam, Sai Ngam district, Kamphaeng Phet province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Sai Ngam Ong In (เทศบาลตำบลไทรงามองค์อินทร์), to avoid confusion with the municipality Sai Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลไทรงาม). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 72.86 km², 8 villages and 3,940 citizen.
• Kut Bak, Kut Bak district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Kut Haet (เทศบาลตำบลกุดแฮด), to avoid confusion with the municipality Kut Bak (เทศบาลตำบลกุดบาก). The TAO was created in 1996, covers 135 km², 8 villages and 5,910 citizen.

Meeting number 22 from July 1 2009 with 12 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.

• Santi Suk (เทศบาลตำบลสันติสุข), Doi Lo district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 29 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 90 km², 9 villages and 3,948 citizen.
• Yang Khram (เทศบาลตำบลยางคราม), Doi Lo district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 78 km², 11 villages and 5,151 citizen.
• Tha Wang Tan (เทศบาลตำบลท่าวังตาล), Saraphi district, Chiang Mai province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 13.63 km², 13 villages and 9,573 citizen.
• Bang Sai Yai (เทศบาลตำบลบางทรายใหญ่), Mueang Mukdahan district, Mukdahan province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 48 km², 13 villages and 8,380 citizen.
• Ban Bak (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านบาก), Don Tan district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 87 km², 7 villages and 5,417 citizen.
• Phon Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านบาก), Khamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 57 km², 10 villages and 5,203 citizen.
• Chedi (เทศบาลตำบลเจดีย์), U-Thong district, Suphanburi province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 20.90 km², 8 villages and 3,055 citizen.
• Lam Sin (เทศบาลตำบลลำสินธุ์), Srinagarindra district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 49 km², 9 villages and 5,710 citizen.
• Thung Noi (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งน้อย), Pho Thale district, Phichit province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 28.47 km², 7 villages and 3,708 citizen.
• Yang Yai (เทศบาลตำบลยางใหญ่), Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 62.85 km², 12 villages and 6,063 citizen.
• Nong Luang (เทศบาลตำบลหนองหลวง), Sawang Daen Din district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 46 km², 12 villages and 7,992 citizen.
• Saeng Badan (เทศบาลตำบลแซงบาดาล), Somdet district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 103 km², 15 villages and 7,553 citizen.

Municipality with its own magazine

The amount of public relation work done by the various local government entities varies a great deal. While several especially in the poorer Northeast don't even have a website, I've now come across one municipality which even publishes a quarterly magazine, covering 36 pages.

Simply named สำโรงใต้ (Samrong Tai) same as the municipality in Phra Pradaeng district, Samut Prakan province, several past issues are available as (scanned) PDF files from the website of the municipality. As it is only scans, the PDF is of course a bit bigger (3 MB for the January 2009 issue), and especially for someone not being able to read Thai yet any copy-and-paste of the text into Google Translate or Thai2English is impossible.

The magazine is already in its 11th year of publishing, thus it was started shortly after the sanitary district Samrong Tai was upgraded to a subdistrict municipality in 1997 (Gazette).

Decentralization problems

Today I noticed an article from The Nation of last week titled 'Irreconcilable' powers holding on a seminar held in Bangkok on August 26. While it has no details on this seminar, the article gives some interesting quotes from participants on the state of decentralization in Thailand.

Overall, the comments collected in the article are quite negative, all having failures in the decentralization of the late 1990s which led to the creation of the Tambon administrative organizations (TAO) and increased powers to the Provincial Administrative organizations (PAO).

According to Nakharin Mektrairat (นครินทร์ เมฆไตรรัตน์)

The existing system had been established on "an old school of thought", which does not correspond with the rapid expansion and development of today's urban communities, he said.

Searching for some more information on Nakharin, I found one of his papers in English in a Japanese symposium transcript. I have only scanned the document so far and have to read in in detail. It's a pity he did not publish much in English.

Another interesting quote is from Prakaipharb Chaum (ประกายภาพ ชะอุ่ม) from the Saen Suk municipality (เทศบาลเมืองแสนสุข) in Chonburi.

[...] said local bodies were linked to national politics through the longstanding patronage system. "Budgets have been allocated to local levels by national politicians through favouritism."