Sukhumbhand Paribatra will resume duty as Bangkok governor after the court of election appeals dismissed an election fraud charge brought against him.
MR Sukhumbhand waves to supporters at the Appeals Court on Friday, where he was cleared of a charge of election fraud. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
The Election Commission voted 3-2 on March 11 to give MR Sukhumbhand a yellow card after he was re-elected in the city gubernatorial election .
As a result, he ceased his duties as governor and a new election would have to be held if the court agreed with the EC.
The case went directly to the Appeals Court.
The case involved speeches made by Democrat politician Suthep Thaugsuban on Feb 13 and 25, 2013 in Wong Wian Yai and at City Hall during the Bangkok governorship campaign.
Pongsapat Pongcharoen, running under the Pheu Thai Party banner, was the major challenger to MR Sukhumbhand, the Democrat incumbent, in the city election.
In his speeches, Mr Suthep implied that if people voted for Pol Gen Pongsapat as Bangkok governor, the country could well end up being ruled under a presidential system in which one person held absolute power.
The EC took the view the speeches might have wrongly influenced voters' feelings toward Pol Gen Ponsapat, and breached the local election law.
In his defence, MR Sukhumbhand, and Mr Suthep, argued the two campaign speeches did not affect Pol Gen Pongsapat's popularity because only 3,000 people heard them, and most already supported MR Sukhumbhand.
They also argued the speeches were not reproduced and Mr Suthep's accusations stemmed from facts learned during the protests of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in 2010.
The Appeals Court division for election cases on Friday found credible evidence that Mr Suthep's speech was based on information he learned when he was deputy prime minister.
That Mr Suthep told the public this information was neither cheating nor slandering, or an attempt to mislead people about Pol Gen Pongsapat.
Besides, Mr Suthep was not criminally prosecuted under the local election law.
The Appeals Court said Mr Suthep in his campaign speeches had mentioned the UDD's ideology and had not referred to Pol Gen Pongsapat.
Therefore, Mr Suthep did not cause any misunderstanding about Pol Gen Pongsapat that could have misled Bangkok voters.
The judgement took five hours to read out. Afterwards, MR Sukhumbhand said he wanted to thank his lawyers and was eager to return to his work after a break of five months.
He said he was worried about water management in Bangkok and would make a visit to the city's Department of Drainage and Sewerage on Saturday.