The Election Commission (EC) will ask the Supreme Court to suspend the voting rights of Senator Keskamol Pleansamai, saying she deceived the public about her educational qualifications.
When she ran for the Senate in June last year, Dr Keskamol claimed she was a professor who graduated from California University with a PhD. She won more votes than any other candidate in the final round of polling on June 26 last year.
The Election Commission accepted a complaint in July last year about the senator’s qualifications. Its inquiry concluded that the use of a PhD title required actual studying, graduation and a certificate.
California University is a foreign credential evaluation institution and the certificates it awards are not accredited by the relevant bodies in Thailand.
The commission said the claim by Dr Keskamol was a deception to win votes and a violation of Section 77 of the 2018 Senate election law.
Dr Keskamol, 47, holds a medical degree from Rangsit University, one of the few items in her CV that has been verified. Her other claims of multiple graduate degrees and a professorship came under attack by social media sleuths after her election.
The owner of four beauty clinics with a large online following, Dr Keskamol said that when she ran for the Senate, she chose to compete in the Freelance Workers group, rather than the Public Health group because the latter featured many well-known people.
The Medical Council of Thailand said earlier that Dr Keskamol was not entitled to call herself a skin specialist as she did not have recognised dermatology certification.
Dr Keskamol’s choice of “university” in the US also drew suspicion as it is the same university where Thamanat Prompow, a former minister and now chief adviser to the Klatham Party, earned his PhD.
Thamanat’s dissertation was found to have been graded and issued by a degree-equivalency assessor.
Under Section 77 of the 2018 Senate election law, any candidate found to deceive voters about their educational qualifications can face a jail term from 1-10 years and/or a fine of between 20,000 and 200,000 baht. Conviction will also result in the loss of voting rights for 20 years.
If the Supreme Court accepts the case, Dr Keskamol must suspend her work as a senator until the court delivers a ruling.
Dr Keskamol also faces another complaint about collusion in last year’s Senate election.
EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong said recently that the commission expected to complete its investigation related to alleged fraud in the election within this month.
The Department of Special Investigation is also pursuing a number of complaints related to vote-rigging and money-laundering in connection with the election.