The Election Commission (EC) is threatening to punish candidates in the Senate election who violate any regulations as the final national stage of voting takes place Wednesday.
A total of 2,995 applicants who passed the provincial-level selection process on June 16 will vie for 200 seats at Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi. The official election results will be announced on July 2.
EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said the poll body is aware of all the candidates and is monitoring their movements.
Several candidates are staying in the same hotels. On Monday, election officials randomly inspected some and found nothing amiss. The candidates merely exchanged opinions and introduced themselves to one another, Mr Sawaeng said.
He said such inspection trips were meant to deter any election law violations.
However, if there is evidence pointing to candidates violating the rules or buying votes, the EC will launch an investigation and send the case to the Supreme Court for a ruling if necessary, he cautioned.
“If the candidates are found guilty, the EC will issue red, orange or black cards, each carrying certain penalties for violations,” he said.
A red card will disqualify election candidates found guilty of committing poll fraud. An orange card will suspend the election rights of a winning candidate for a year if the EC has evidence they are involved in election fraud. A black card means their election rights will be revoked for life.
“Before issuing these penalties, the EC must present investigation reports and evidence to the Supreme Court,” Mr Sawaeng said.
Previously, he said exchanging votes in the Senate election was no longer deemed a breach of regulations.
He was responding to questions about whether candidates are allowed to encourage others in the election to vote for them or promise to swap votes.
Following a petition lodged against the EC’s initial restrictions imposed on campaigning, the Administrative Court on May 24 ruled against them, which resulted in their repeal.
Mr Sawaeng said that since the regulation restricting candidates from introducing themselves in public was scrapped as a result of the court ruling, they can use their votes however they like — except for buying votes, which is illegal.
The EC also met with representatives of foreign embassies and international organisations on Tuesday to explain the election process to them, as they will be allowed to observe the voting.
The Senate election began with more than 45,000 candidates divided into 20 professional groups. The three-phase process involved candidates choosing among themselves, both from their own group and other groups, at the district, provincial and national levels.
The district level featured an intra-group election in which the five candidates with the most votes in each group proceeded to an inter-group election.
After that, the three candidates with the most votes from each group were shortlisted, or 60 across 20 groups.
They repeated a similar process at the provincial level on June 16, but this time, during the inter-group poll, only the two candidates with the most votes proceeded to the national stage, in which the top 10 from each of the 20 groups will be selected as senators on Wednesday.
