POLITICS / ROW OVER EC GUIDELINES

Banned TRT execs to petition rights agencies

SURASAK GLAHAN and AMPA SANTIMATANEDOL

Some of the 111 former Thai Rak Thai (TRT) executives banned from politics have decided to petition human rights agencies, instead of the Constitution Court, against the Election Commission's guidelines restricting their participation in election campaigning.

The group, led by former acting TRT leader Chaturon Chaisaeng, will today lodge a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Amnesty International Thailand.

Mr Chaturon said he discussed the matter with seven other former TRT executives and they agreed the guidelines were in violation of their constitutional rights to freedom of expression. His group would also brief Amnesty International Thailand on the matter to draw attention from international organisations, he said.

Mr Chaturon said the EC's restrictions went beyond the ruling of the Constitution Tribunal which dissolved Thai Rak Thai and banned its 111 executives from politics for five years.

He added his group would continue to hold political gatherings.

The EC last week said the 111 former TRT executives should not take the stage at campaign rallies, have campaign photographs taken with candidates or serve as advisers to political parties.

The EC claimed it was only giving guidelines and the banned politicians were free to decide whether or not to follow them.

A source at the EC said yesterday the poll agency chose to call the restrictions ''guidelines'' because it was not authorised to issue regulations that applied to a specific group of people.

But he warned that each political party must take responsibility if it allowed any of the banned politicians to get involved in the party's poll campaigning and some people later decided to lodge complaints with the Constitution Court.

Amnesty International Thailand director Boonthan Verawongse said Amnesty was likely to accept complaints from the banned politicians for consideration.

But it was too early to declare its position on the matter as it would need to view the complaints and study the EC's restrictions.

Suranand Vejjajiva, one of the 111 former TRT executives, announced yesterday he had resigned as head of an election coordination committee of the Puea Pandin party. He said he did not want to be an impediment to Puea Pandin's campaigning.

Puea Pandin deputy secretary-general Santi Satippong also Surakiart Sathirathai, another banned TRT executive, also quit as the party's strategic adviser.

 

 

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