Court issues injunction against disqualification of Bangkok governor candidate

In its order, the court said the EC must allow Kraidej Bunnag, candidate No 19, to continue to run in the May 22 gubernatorial election.

The administrative court reasoned that if Kraidej was later found by the Supreme Court to be a qualified Bangkok governor candidate, the damage would be irreversible if he was banned right away from contesting the election.

The injunction order also noted that if Kraidej won the election but was found by a court ruling later to be disqualified, the EC could require him to pay compensation for having to hold a new election.

The EC made a decision on April 11 to disqualify Kraidej as a candidate on grounds that he allegedly owned shares in a publication called Highlight Buntherng.

But Kraidej asked the Central Administrative Court to issue an injunction against the EC’s order.

On April 29, the court had also issued an injunction against the EC’s order to disqualify Move Forward Party candidate Piraphol Kanokwalai, who is running for a Bangkok Council Phayathai district seat.

The EC decided that Piraphol was disqualified because he owned a media company, but the Move Forward candidate argued that the printing business has been discontinued for 28 years.