EC member disapproves election court proposal
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A member of the Election Commission yesterday voiced his disagreement with the proposal to set up a new election court, saying lengthy court procedures would only encourage politicians to buy votes and cheat in polls.
Prapun Naigowit, the EC commissioner in charge of elections, said he disagreed with this suggestion made at yesterday’s meeting on “election system reform”.
He explained that the EC had won public trust as a non-partisan agency where elections were concerned, adding that the most successful general election overseen by the agency was the one held on July 3, 2011, because the voter turnout was 75.03 per cent – the largest in Thai history.
Prapun told the seminar that the system of having the EC organise elections was being used by several countries, because it is accepted that the EC would do a much better job than the government or the Interior Ministry.
He explained that the EC had initially been formed to organise elections in 1997, and after that voter turnout started getting higher and higher after it became the agency in charge of organising elections and issuing cheats yellow and red cards.
Initially, the EC was given the sole authority to disqualify election candidates, but later it was only allowed to issue red or yellow cards before the election results were announced. Now, cases have to be sent to the Supreme Court.
“Politicians are no longer afraid of punishment because it takes a while before cases get to the Supreme Court,” Prapun said, adding that setting up an election court would make the process even longer.
He said the current election system was good enough and the Supreme Court already had an election division.
Besides, he added, people would be confused if the election system was changed yet again.
EC Chairman Apichart Sukhagganond said the formation of the commission was a milestone in Thailand’s long history of democracy, which turns 80 in December.
Apichart said his panel was Thailand’s third Election Commis-sion and has been in operation for six years. He added that every time an election was held, the EC was often dragged into political conflicts. As for reforms to the system, Apichart said any system would be fine if it prevents vote buying and encourages public participation.
