By Thai Newsroom Reporters
ALL 200 SENATORS-DESIGNATE will definitely be officially ratified early next month though some could possibly be accused of electoral rigging charges and consequently have their senatorial duties suspended by court at a later date, Election Commission Secretary-General Sawaeng Boonmee confirmed today (June 27).
Under the election law and relevant rules of the Election Commission, all 200 senators-designate will be officially certified by the polling agency on July 3 whilst legal action will be taken against those among the winning candidates who might possibly be accused of involvement in alleged vote-buying, bloc-vote rigging charges, thus having their legislative duties immediately suspended by court, pending court trials and verdicts, Sawaeng said.
However, no senators-designate who may have already been accused of perpetrating any wrongdoings will be officially identified as electoral rigging suspects, singled out and denied the official ratification on July 3 whilst the evidence-based investigation will be scrupulously conducted by the polling agency, according to the secretary-general.
Without naming names, Sawaeng said 600-plus complaints have been filed so far to the polling agency to accuse some of the winning contestants of involvement in alleged payoff handouts and preplanned bloc votes in the senatorial race, deemed as Thailand’s unprecedented electoral process, featuring the triple-tiered election among fellow candidates in lieu of constituents nationwide.
The evidence-based investigation into any vote-buying, vote-rigging and other electoral wrongdoings could probably be a time-consuming process but all the accused senators-designate will finally be brought to justice in court though they may have been ratified as senior lawmakers on July 3, the polling agency’s secretary-general said.
The Election Commission is legally given a one-year period after the election date to file electoral rigging lawsuits in court against any accused candidates.
Sawaeng has earlier said a number of senatorial contenders had evidently attended hush-hush meetings and banquets at about 20 hotels where talks about payoffs and bloc votes had prevailed. He declined to name any suspected candidates or the hotels used by politically-connected wheeler-dealers after the 48,000-plus candidates had earlier contested in the district and provincial tiers of the senatorial election, leaving a total of 2,989 contenders vying for in the national or final tier.
Kickbacks in cash ranging from 300,000 to one million baht for each “puppet” candidate had been allegedly offered and accepted at the national or final tier of the complicated race to parliament in exchange for their votes for certain fellow contestants running in any of the 20 given categories.
If evidently found guilty of breaching the election law and the polling agency’s relevant rules, the accused senators-designate would almost certainly have their legislative duties immediately suspended by court, he said.
Meanwhile, Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon said many of the 200 senators-designate are known to have partisan connections, albeit in tacit, discreet fashion, and questionable personal backgrounds.
Members of the public might probably wonder if the legislative branch should consist of the Senate any longer, given “disappointing” results of yesterday’s election, according to the Move Forward leader.
Without elaborating, he said there might only be a handful of democratic-minded, trustworthy senior legislators among the total 200.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Senatorial election polling station. Photo: Naewna
First insert and Front Page: Election Commission Secretary-General Sawang Boonmee. Photos: Thai Rath
Second Insert: Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon. Photo: Thai Rath
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