South Dovani

[Zanz]

BREAKING NEWS: "UNTHINKABLE" - KOB SUCHINDA ELECTED PRESIDENT IN HISTORIC FIRST
12 November 5630

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Almost immediately after polls closed across South Dovani, election night insiders at NEWP headquarters were made privy to exit polling that seemed to confirm their worst fears. Interior Minister Jintana Worasith, who became the party's nominee only after incumbent President Pichai Woraphon exited the race following an outlandish performance in a late January debate, was faring poorly.

Across the city in the northern Udon Nakhon business district at a headquarters shared by the UCF and HHP under the auspices of their new Patriotic Alliance coalition, the polls drew a much happier picture. Kob Suchinda, nominally independent but backed heavily by the PA, had fared well - in fact, better than expected.

In a shocking turn of events that a spokesperson for the NEWP called "unthinkable", Kob has won the election. For the first time since the dominant days of the Revolutionary Alliance, he won it in the first round. And for the first time since the Scarlet Rose Revolution, an unflinchingly right-wing candidate has won the presidency.

Experts have been quick to call the factors leading up to the shock victory a perfect storm - Pichai's floundering exit left little time for Jintana to establish herself; Kob seized upon legitimate discontent with the NEWP-PIE handling of the Queen Daksinajar Girls' Secondary School fire; growing discord in the NEWP-PIE alliance led to only lukewarm gestures toward unity in the face of a unified and revitalized right. Whatever the causes, the effects are sure to be vast.

Kob's independent bid secured 51.93% of ballots cast in the first round. Jintana secured only 18.5% of the first round vote, trailed closely by PIE ally Pracha Juntasa with 15.38%. Khae Ekaluck, whose early showings had renewed hopes in the RA for resurgence faltered, garnering only 7.98%. The PPU and ASM candidates each received fewer than 5% of all votes cast.

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@UdonNakhonPost