4 replies to this topic

[Gene]

"The fate of all Chart Thai Pattana candidates in Sunday's race will rest on a Supreme Court ruling today on the qualifications of a colleague standing in Uthai Thani.

Adul Luangboriboon has appealed to the Supreme Court after election officials in Uthai Thani rejected his application to stand. The applications of 11 other Chart Thai Pattana candidates have been accepted after the Election Commission (EC) let election chiefs decide on their qualifications.

The problem centres on the candidates' membership of Chart Thai Pattana.The election law requires a candidate to be a member of a party for at least 90 days before a poll. The Chart Thai Pattana candidates noted in their applications that they took up party membership on Oct 8 and 9, but the EC cannot verify the information, according to election commissioner Sodsri Satayathum.

Election regulations require all new party memberships to be reported to the EC on the succeeding Friday after the memberships are accepted.

In the case of the candidates from Chart Thai Pattana, they should have reported their membership registrations on Oct 10. However, the party did not follow the regulation as it sent copies of their membership applications and other evidence to the EC on Dec 12.

Chart Thai Pattana has 12 candidates in the 22 provinces in which 29 parliamentary seats are at stake.The party will have candidates directly opposing Puea Thai for 10 House seats. If the Chart Thai Pattana candidates are disqualified, there will be only Puea Thai candidates left to contest the seats. That means at least 20% of eligible voters in each constituency will need to lodge a vote in order for the Puea Thai candidates to be eligible to win the seats.

Mrs Sodsri and EC secretary-general Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn said the court's ruling on the qualifications of Mr Adul would set a precedent for the qualifications of the party's other candidates.If the court rules against Mr Adul, the provincial election chiefs in the other affected seats could then ask the Supreme Court to nullify the status of all Chart Thai Pattana candidates, Mr Suthiphon said.

In addition to Chart Thai Pattana, two Democrat and three New Aspiration party (NAP) candidates standing in the by-elections also have problems. The EC has found no records of the Democrat candidates being members of the party. The NAP contenders are suspected of being members of more than one party.

Mrs Sodsri warned there were heavy penalties for candidates who registered for an election knowing they were not qualified. They were liable to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to 200,000 baht and their election rights could be suspended for 10 years, she said.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/9239...-in-court-fight

[Sexpat]

This seems like an open-and-shut case that these candidates missed the deadline for filing their party change, except you never know these days what the courts are going to decide in these political cases. What I don't understand is why these party officials goofed so badly in missing the date to report the changes.

[Hedda]

This seems like an open-and-shut case...

That's what Samak thought when they told him someone wanted to disqualify him as Prime Minister for cooking on TV. Now that the courts have openly waded into the political wars, the only thing open and shut about cases results seems to be dictated by what party you belong to.

What I don't understand is why these party officials goofed so badly in missing the date to report the changes.

Speaking hypothetically, maybe they didn't goof at all, but intentionally didn't file any declaration because they weren't sure what party or coalition they wanted to be part of until they knew what was going to happen politically. Remember that back in October, PPP was still running things and these folks were still part of the governing coalition, but as members of a party that the EC was pressing to dissolve. Would they jumpt to the reincarnation of some new party or perhaps join the PPP when it reformed as another party ? They were betwixt and between.

By December, Newin & Co has made the break to leave PPP and join the democrats in a new coalition. These politicos had to decide too. When they did, they claimed it had all been done last October, but someone forgot to file the papers. It's all speculation, of course, but from a legal (not political) point of view, it does look like an open and shut case.

[B.I.G.]

Open and shut case, huh ? You're going to love this one:

"The Supreme Court’s election cases division ruled on Wednesday morning that Adul Luangboriboon of Chart Thai Pattana party is qualified to run in the Jan 11 by-election.

Mr Adul’s application to contest the by-election was rejected by election officials in Uthai Thani on the ground that he had not been a member of the party for at least 90 days as required by the election law. Mr Adul appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s ruling has effectively put Mr Adul back in the race. It also set a precedent for the qualifications of 11 other candidates of the party with the same problem.

The court's ruling represents a big relief for the Democrat-led government whose stability will be at great risk if the Chart Thai Pattana candidates are disqualified to contest the forthcoming poll. The by-election will be held on Jan 11."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1...-adul-poll-race

[Hedda]

From what I have read about the court's decision, which is admittedly not very detailed, it looks like the Court simply chose to believe the candidates' version of what happened, ie, that they joined the new party in October, rather than accept the obvious fact that these folks didn't register their affiliation with the new party until December 12, which just so happens to be about the time when the news broke that the PPP coalition had fractured.

Funny coincidence, wasn't it ?