THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

EC office to examine two legal aspects of EC draft bill

EC office to examine two legal aspects of EC draft bill

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday resolved to assign its office to study two legal aspects concerning the constitutionality of the new EC draft bill, and to see whether there are any legal channels left for the agency to petition the Constitutional Court.

Election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said the EC had, however, decided not to touch upon the highly controversial point concerning the total reset of the current commission as addressed in the new law, as this would lead people to think that it was fighting for the personal interests of EC members.
If the EC office is unable to find any legal channels for questioning the constitutionality of other aspects of the bill, it is instructed to report back to an EC meeting later, he explained.
One of the two legal aspects being examined concerns the removal from the draft law of an EC member’s authority to suspend elections if fraud is found, as the new charter clearly addresses the matter otherwise, Somchai said. 
The other aspect deemed to violate the Constitution concerns the removal from the draft bill of the EC’s authority to organise local elections, despite the fact that the new charter gives that power to the electoral agency.
While any EC member also has the right to file their own petition to the Constitutional Court, the EC meeting has not yet addressed that issue, Somchai said, adding that he himself had not yet made up his mind about that either.

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