Two days after Future Forward Party was told not to accept donations from its supporters, it remains unclear whether parties can accept donations at this time or not.
Deputy Prime minister Prawit Wongsuwon said on Friday parties had to inform the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) before accepting donations.
“They have to notify the NCPO first. The Election Commission takes care of political activities while the NCPO maintains peace and order. If the election law is breached, the EC must take action,” said Gen Prawit, who is also a deputy NCPO chief.
He did not elaborate on how accepting donations could disrupt peace and order.
Gen Prawit added the NCPO would consider lifting the ban on political activity entirely in December and parties would be invited to another meeting to be chaired by either him or Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
“The MP law has yet to take effect but don’t worry, the ban will definitely be lifted,” he said.
But on the same day, Wissanu Krea-ngam, another deputy prime minister, said the NCPO did not ban donations and the EC had not sought opinions from the NCPO on the matter.
“The NCPO eased the ban partially to allow parties to recruit members. In doing so, they are required by an NCPO order to also collect membership fees.
“As for other incomes, whatever they are called, they are not mentioned anywhere so it's up to the EC to decide whether they are part of a campaign. If they are, soliciting them is prohibited,” he said.
He added if the EC was not certain, it could ask the NCPO, which would answer all questions from the EC, but not from others. “Personally, I think the EC can answer all questions clearly but the problem is parties don’t believe it.”
The Future Forward Party on Saturday started accepting applications for members for a fee of 200 baht a year or 2,000 baht for life, the minimum required by the Political Parties law.
It also opened sales of souvenirs, toys and small items bearing its logo to raise funds and accepted donations, with the aim of raising around 300 million baht for the general election.
The party said on Wednesday the EC ordered it by phone to stop accepting donations from the public, citing an NCPO order issued four years ago to freeze political parties’ activities after the 2014 military coup. It could still accept donations from party executives, the EC said.
In a video clip on the same day, Future Forward leaders pledged to challenge the EC’s order in court and asked it to give the order in writing so it could proceed.
They argued that without money from supporters, the party would not be self-sustaining and end up being like parties in the past, which were dominated by a handful of wealthy people. With its hands tied, a party would be left with no choice but to give up running in the upcoming election, find wealthy people to finance its operations or not declare its incomes and expenses, none of which Future Forward plans to do.
Besides, by law parties are prohibited from mobilising funds once a royal decree setting the date of the general election is issued, expected in early January. The window for fund-raising by political parties will be further limited.
The EC said it would not give the order in writing and claimed it did not prohibit the party from accepting donations, only that it had to seek permission from the NCPO first.