Finds PPP is a proxy, but no laws forbid it
MONGKOL BANGPRAPA
The Election Commission (EC) agrees that the People Power party (PPP) is a "nominee" of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party (TRT) and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but the panel has found there are no laws against it.
The EC decided yesterday to dismiss two nominee-related complaints filed by activists against the PPP.
One activist is now threatening to sue an EC panel for lessening the substance of his complaint.
In one complaint, EC secretary-general Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn said the majority of election commissioners - three of the five commissioners - agreed there was evidence to support the idea that the PPP was actually a proxy of the TRT and Mr Thaksin, but that did not breach the political party law.
The EC dismissed the complaint by Veera Somkhwamkid, secretary-general of the People's Network Against Corruption.
Mr Suthiphon said the EC's resolution yesterday was in accordance with the findings of its sub-committee which looked into the complaint.
The sub-committee was headed by Paithoon Netipho, a former chief judge of the Criminal Court.
One of the two commissioners who voted in the minority did not think there was enough evidence to prove the PPP was a proxy of the TRT and Mr Thaksin, while the other commissioner who voted against the findings thought the EC should have waited for the opinion of the political party registrar, in line with Article 94 of the political party law.
EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond is the registrar.
The EC, on a 4:1 vote, dismissed a similar complaint from political activist Prasit Donpho-ngarm, who accused both the PPP and its leader Samak Sundaravej of being "nominees" of TRT.
Mr Suthiphon said four commissioners agreed that the complainant had failed to present enough evidence and the other commissioner thought the EC needed to hear the opinion of the party registrar first. He denied that the EC's findings meant that any party could act as a proxy for a disbanded political party.
The EC had to consider the issue in line with the scope of the complaints that focused only on the political party law, Mr Samak and the PPP, and not on Mr Thaksin, who is among the 111 TRT executives suspended from politics.
In response, Mr Veera said the EC could have applied the civil law to prosecute the accused for acting as nominees. He wants to take legal action against the sub-committee of Mr Paithoon for lessening the weight of his complaint.
He added that he would revive his nominee complaint against the PPP, or more political parties that were about to be disbanded would follow suit.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Next
