EC to petition charter court for electoral ban on former Move Forward MP

The EC on Friday said on its website that Nakhonchai Khunnarong, who triumphed in Rayong province’s Constituency 3 in the May 14 election last year, was in breach of sections 54 and 151 of the organic act on election of MPs. The latter would result in up to a 10-year imprisonment, a fine of up to 200,000 baht, and a 20-year ban on running for office.

The election watchdog said it plans to petition the Constitutional Ceourt to revoke Nakhonchai’s MP status at the time he was elected on May 14, and to bar him from running for an election.

Known as “Ice Rayong”, Nakhonchai stepped down as an MP on July 27 after Seree Ruam Thai Party leader Seripisuth Temeeyaves told the public that the Move Forward lawmaker had previously served a jail term in a theft case, which would bar him from running as an MP candidate.

The EC held a by-election, which was still won by a Move Forward candidate. The EC said that it would demand reimbursement of the expenses incurred in holding the by-election.

The agency said it disagreed with Nakhonchai’s claim that he was qualified.

Reflecting on the case that happened nearly 24 years ago on October 6, 1999, Nakhonchai accused the police of tricking him to confessing to the crime.

“At that time, I was young, 20 years old. I was partying with friends in a room where many people came in and went out. I noticed a woman’s watch was left on a table in the middle of the room,” his post, dating back to July 23, 2023, said.

“I asked whose the watch it was but nobody knew, so I picked it up for inspection. Not much later, police stormed into the room and arrested me and a friend. The friend confessed that he had stolen the watch from someone. The friend and I were taken to the police station. Police asked me to sign a document, saying it was for closure of the matter. I learned later that it was a letter of confession.”

The primary court sentenced him to three years in jail but commuted it by half.