NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: The future of Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong, who has campaigned for limiting the role of the Senate, is in doubt after he and his brother were convicted of poll fraud.
The Nakhon Si Thammarat court on Friday sentenced Mr Thepthai and his brother, Manote, to three years behind bars before reducing the term to two years without suspension.
If the conviction and sentence are upheld on appeal, the pair could be banned from politics for 10 years. They are currently free on bail after depositing 200,000 baht in cash with the court.
The brothers were found guilty of cheating in the Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO) election in the southern province in 2014.
Then incumbent PAO chief Pichai Bunyakiat, who lost the election to Mr Manote, accused the brothers of orchestrating fraud in the highly contested poll.
In a message posted on his Facebook account, Mr Thepthai said he respected the ruling but insisted on his innocence. “I will fight for justice and am ready to fight in the Court of Appeal,” he wrote.
The Democrat MP said he would continue to carry out his duties as a representative of the province in parliament.
However, Mr Pichai said after Friday’s ruling that he would petition the Election Commission to seek a Constitutional Court order to strip Mr Thepthai of his MP status.
Mr Thepthai has been in the headlines lately for his campaign to limit the power of the Senate under an amended constitution. He has been lobbying other Democrat members of the House to support the proposal. The party will meet to discuss the issue on Monday.
His brother is already serving a political ban stemming from another case, also filed by Mr Pichai. The Appeal Court in Phuket in 2015 ousted Mr Manote as the Nakhon Si Thammarat PAO chief and banned him from politics for five years because of poll fraud.
After winning that case in 2015, Mr Pichai pursued another court fight — this time on criminal charges — against the two brothers that ended with Friday’s ruling.
The Senpongs and Bunyakiats are both politically linked to the Democrats in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Mr Pichai's brother Chinnaworn is a Democrat MP for the same province but in a different constituency. He also serves as the deputy government chief whip.