Governor wins EC poll case
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Sukhumbhand back to work today, after appeals court rejects claim of advantage
The Court of Appeals yesterday rejected a request by the Election Commission (EC) to suspend Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
Following the court’s ruling, Sukhumbhand said he would resume his duties as governor from today.
He said he had two immediate concerns: the volume of rainwater falling on the city and the spread of communicable diseases.
His first visit would be to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s (BMA) Drainage and Sewerage Department to deal with the effects of rainfall on the capital over the rest of the wet season.
He would also chair a meeting of officials about the water situation to try to prevent any flooding, according to a source close to the governor.
Sukhumbhand, a politician from the Democrat Party whose four-year term in office ends in February 2017, yesterday embraced his mother and his deputy governors upon hearing the court’s verdict.
Supporters present when the ruling was read out burst into applause and loud cheers. Some also offered roses to Sukhumbhand.
Asked if he felt the EC’s case against him had been a waste of his time in office, the governor said: “I don’t want to say it was a waste of time. We would do better by looking forward. The BMA will work with the government in protecting the interests of Bangkok residents, so that it remains a liveable city.”
Sukhumbhand hosted a dinner at his home yesterday for BMA executives and senior officials after the court ruling, a source said.
The EC had petitioned the court, asking it to annul Sukhumbhand’s victory in last year’s Bangkok gubernatorial election.
The agency accused him of winning the election thanks to damaging allegations made against his strongest competitor, Police General Pongsapat Pongcharoen from the Pheu Thai Party.
The Bangkok governor stood down from his duties on March 31 this year, the day the court accepted the EC’s petition against him.
The allegations in question were made by Suthep Thaugsuban, then also a Democrat politician, amid campaigning in the run-up to the Bangkok governor’s election in March last year.
Suthep alleged that if Pongsapat were to be elected, Bangkok would get a “puppet governor” with connections to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the red shirts.
He reminded Bangkok voters of the political unrest in 2010, which saw arson attacks and riots in the capital following weeks of street protests by Thaksin’s red-shirt supporters. The unrest left more than 90 people dead and over 2,000 others injured.
The Court of Appeals spent about five hours reading its verdict. It found that what Suthep had said during the election campaign consisted of facts that had already been widely publicised.
The court also said that the EC had failed to prove that Suthep’s allegations were false.
Veera Yipae, the EC’s election director for Bangkok, said that it was not unusual for the court to reject a petition from the agency’s petition, because courts had to be completely sure about the evidence.
The governor would now be able to resume his duties, he said.
Sukhumbhand’s lawyer, Sawat Charoenphol, said the case should now be regarded as over and the EC could not make any other appeal against the governor in relation to his election.
Winyat Chartmontri, Pongsapat’s lawyer whose petition led to the EC case against Sukhumbhand, said yesterday he still believed that Suthep’s allegation against the Pheu Thai candidate had adversely affected his support in the governor’s election.
