The Election Commission (EC) has found itself on the defensive over growing accusations it has been inept in meeting its job description.
The May 14 general election has come and long gone, with only a single former poll candidate indicted in court by the EC over electoral malpractice.
Indicted were Ketkanda Inchuay, who was running for an MP seat in Bangkok's Constituency 16, and her campaign assistant, Duangruedee Phansomton, for engaging in vote-buying in the lead-up to the election that saw the Move Forward Party securing almost a clean sweep in the capital, except one constituency which went to the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
The EC, apparently in trying to justify its slow investigation into the electoral fraud allegations, explained the changes in election-related laws, the necessity to navigate through the maze of legal details, and a shift in its priority have all contributed to why the agency has dropped into low gear with the probes stemming from the May polls.
However, some critics argued it was well-warranted to slam the EC, which, by its own admission, has received substantially fewer poll complaints from the May general election than the 2019 polls.
The commission, therefore, has more time on its hands to work on the complaints and should have been able to process them with greater speed.
According to Sawang Boonmee, the EC secretary-general, the commission was handed 365 poll complaints from the last election, significantly down from the 2019 general election when 592 complaints were filed.
Mr Sawang said the commission had dropped most of the complaints on the grounds of flimsy evidence and was proceeding with 77 complaints.
A political observer charged that the EC was not making much sense when it chose to finalise the Ketkanda case and treated it with such urgency as to issue its indictment decision before other more pressing complaints, which target sitting MPs.
In the weeks that followed the May election, the EC progressively endorsed the victory of poll winners, ushering them into parliament as MPs.
The agency said it resorted to the endorse-first-suspend-later approach since the House of Representatives needed enough MPs to attend the opening of parliament and pick up where the previous Prayut Chan-o-cha administration had left off, the sooner, the better.
The EC has up to a year from the May 14 polls to suspend or disqualify the failed election candidates or MPs for poll irregularities. Seven months of work producing one indictment does not sit well with the EC's reputation or the efficiency badge it claims to possess.
The observer said time is fast running out for the EC in its post-election probes. The poll watch agency has a lot riding on how it can fend off gibes that it amounts to nothing but a paper tiger.
The observer said the EC, through its history, has been put through some very tough "stress tests". At no other time had the commission's reputation been dealt a heavier blow than when three commissioners -- EC chairman Pol Gen Wasana Permlap, Prinya Nakchudtree and Veerachai Naewboonnien -- were convicted by the Criminal Court in 2006 for malfeasance in organising a by-election earlier that year, which benefited the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party led by the jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
In June 2016, Wasana and Prinya were sent to the Bangkok Remand Prison after the Supreme Court handed them a two-year jail sentence in connection with a 2006 election case. Veerachai had died four years earlier during the trial.
Wasana and Prinya were released from prison in 2017 courtesy of a royal pardon by His Majesty the King.
They were among 283 inmates whose penalties were suspended by King Rama X. They had all served at least two-thirds of their jail terms and were qualified to receive the royal pardon.
The observer said the EC's path ahead now might not look rosy with its perceived delay in wrapping up poll probes and Pheu Thai -- reborn from the People's Power Party, which was in turn a reincarnation of the TRT _ back in power as the ruling party.
Fast forward to Nov 27, Mr Sawang came out in staunch defence of the EC's methods in processing complaints from the May general election and vehemently denied it was dragging its feet.
He insisted it was no piece of cake sifting through the investigation despite the EC having fewer complaints to handle.
On his personal Facebook page, Mr Sawang explained the EC's handling of election complaints and why the agency has not issued more yellow or red cards.
He said the EC had used the time to devise supplementary measures to make its investigation thorough and put together evidence watertight enough to heighten the chance of convictions.
As many poll-related cases must be brought before the Criminal Court, they require solid evidence and witness accounts to back them up, a process which needs to be thorough and is, therefore, time-consuming.
There was no escaping the fact that election fraud is complex in nature, especially as it involves people who aspire to assume public office.
Also, he added many malpractices were committed with the full consent of vote sellers who profess true faith in the party that buys votes from them. The two sides would tend to cover up their "tracks", which presents a further hindrance to the investigators.
The vote buyers were also doing everything in their power to win the high-stakes election. This complicates the malpractice investigation processes, which make swift resolutions difficult, he said.
Mr Sawang said the EC has dedicated its resources and manpower to preventing and deterring vote fraud rather than going after and suppressing wrongdoers.
The shift in priority calls for the launch of fast-deployment joint patrols with local authorities in various constituencies to monitor the situation on the ground. The patrols have succeeded in keeping poll-related crimes at bay or even foiling them.
Prevention lowers election fraud, which in turn reduces the need to issue yellow or red cards, and it was a waste of resources and time organising by-elections, he said.
Battered and broken
The Democrat Party has emerged bruised and broken from the Dec 9 leadership contest, leading many political analysts to foresee that the latest setback could mark the beginning of the end for the country's oldest political party.
In recent years, the party has been dealt some harsh blows, from veterans defecting to other parties to internal conflicts during Jurin Laksanawisit's tenure as the party leader.
Abhisit: Quits as Democrat member
Last Saturday, the Democrats gathered for the third time to find a new leader to succeed Mr Jurin, who stepped down from the post over the disappointing outcome of the May 14 elections in which the party secured less than half of what it captured in the 2019 polls.
Two failed previous attempts to choose a new leader and executive board speak volumes about the deep rifts within the languishing party. The development in the third meeting confirms political observers' perceptions that the party is plummeting downward yet further.
While the party elected former secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on as its ninth leader, it saw former leader and former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was also nominated in the leadership contest, quit as a party member.
Mr Abhisit turned down the nomination by party patriarch and former leader Chuan Leekpai and announced in the middle of the party assembly his resignation after a ten-minute talk with Mr Chalermchai. More high-profile Democrats followed suit, including Sathit Pitutecha, Sathit Wongnongtoey and Orn-anong Kanchanachusak.
The departure of these key political figures has prompted scepticism among political observers that the Democrat Party, with Mr Chalermchai at the helm, can reconnect with voters and rebuild support. Many even fear the party will devolve from a national political force into a minor party.
Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political science lecturer at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, has identified two issues behind the Democrat Party's decline -- internal structure and organisation culture.
Its internal power structure is similar to that of the bureaucratic system, which is governed by tight regulations and seniority. Although the party never fails to draw new generations of politicians, it is somehow unable to retain them, according to the academic.
Parit Wacharasindhu, a list-MP of the Move Forward Party (MFP), is a former Democrat and a part of the "New Dems" group, who left to join the MFP after the 2019 election defeat.
Despite being a newcomer, Mr Parit is now playing a significant role in the main opposition party, and his case reflects the Democrats' failure to embrace internal changes and harness the vigour of young politicians, according to Mr Yuttaporn.
Mr Abhisit's decision to resign as party leader back when the Democrats chose to join the previous Palang Pracharath Party-led coalition government also points to the party's lack of mechanisms to address internal disagreements, he said.
Mr Abhisit quit as party leader and an MP after the party's poor performance in the 2019 election, in which the party won only 52 seats and retreated from party activities ahead of the prime ministerial vote in parliament in which Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha was elected as the premier.
Mr Yuttaporn said the Democrat Party has capitalised on the dual roles -- one of its leaders who projects a clean and honest image to attract upper-to-middle-class voters and the other of its secretary-generals who make political deals happen behind the scenes.
Despite the latest change in leadership, the academic does not think this "organisation culture" will be revamped any time soon and may even contribute to the party's further decline.
Mr Yuttaporn hailed Mr Abhisit's decision to withdraw his candidacy in the latest leadership race as the right move because the party does not have what it takes to win back voters and it may end up becoming a minor player on the national stage.
In his opinion, the political clout of Dech-it Khaothong, the new party secretary-general, and Chaichana Decho, a new deputy leader, is not strong enough to reclaim key southern provinces like Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat in the next election.
Mr Dech-it was unable to secure a clean sweep for the Democrat Party in Songkhla in the May polls. The Democrats have lost vast ground in elections in the South, which had been the traditional stronghold of the party for decades.
The analyst can't see how the Democrats can bounce back when the public now has low expectations of the party.
"How can it make a comeback when the core level of support is dwindling? No one cares any more how low the party can fall," he said.