Three constituency MP candidates of the New Economics Party on Thursday petitioned the Election Commission (EC) to dissolve their own party for being dominated by outsiders who prevented it from freely conducting its activities.
Ulaiporn Traiwongyoi, Prayong Sangsriha and Kromkrit Supakdee submitted the letter to the poll-organising agency, accusing party leader Mingkwan Sangsuwan of letting people who were not party members dictate its political activities.
In the letter, the petitioners claimed Mr Mingkwan had given the party’s 350 MP candidates 15,000 baht each to cover the MP application fee and promised to hold an orientation training for them after their applications had been endorsed by the Election Commission (EC).
They claimed the training was never held and a director of a real estate company, through Mr Mingkwan, controlled the party so it could not hold political activities freely. The letter cited as an example providing financial support for their campaigns and posters.
They urged the EC to investigate the alleged unconstitutional acts and to suspend the announcement of the party’s vote results.
They also sought the disbandment of the party if the commission finds wrongdoings in violation of the Political Party Act, which prohibits parties from allowing outsiders to pull their strings.
Ms Ulaiporn ran for constituency 5 in Sakon Nakhon, Mr Prayong represented the party in constituency 6 in Surin and Mr Kromkrit competed in constituency 6 in Roi Et. According to the EC’s unofficial results, the party did not win in any constituency but will likely get 5-6 party-list seats from some 486,000 votes nationwide.
There was no comment from Mr Mingkwan as of Thursday afternoon.
Earlier, Mr Mingkwan said New Economics would join six other parties in a coalition led by Pheu Thai to form a new government after the election. However, he failed to show up when the parties signed a memorandum of understanding three days after the March 24 election, leaving some people wondering about his commitment.
A Palang Pracharath source claimed on Saturday morning New Economics would join its coalition but Mr Mingkwan ruled out the possibility in a party Facebook statement in the evening.
Mr Mingkwan was a deputy prime minister, commerce minister and industry minister in the Samak Sundaravej government in 2008.