Thailand’s king approves Oct. 15 election date
Thailand’s king approves Oct. 15 election date
BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej has approved Oct. 15 as the date to hold a new general election, Cabinet Secretary-General Rongphon Jareonphan announced Friday.
The king’s endorsement of the government’s proposed date was needed before the election could go ahead within a mandatory 60 days of a royal decree, according to the constitution.
The decree will take effect on Aug. 24, said Rongphon.
There has been widespread skepticism of whether the polls would go ahead, because of legal challenges to the legitimacy of the Election Commission, which is supposed to supervise the polls, as well as the top two contending parties - the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party.
Thailand held a general election on April 2, three years ahead of schedule, but it was boycotted by the three parliamentary opposition parties, including the Democrats.
The nation’s top courts later nullified the April poll, calling it undemocratic and unconstitutional after it was criticized by the king.
Since parliament was dissolved in February, Thailand has had no working legislature and only a caretaker government under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Rak Thai leader.
Several lawsuits launched in connection with the April election could impact any new polls.
The Election Commissioners were sued for allegedly failing to carry out their duty to oversee the polls in a fair and transparent manner.
Critics said they favored Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai Party.
The political parties were sued for alleged violations of election law.
If found guilty, they could be dissolved and their leaders banned for five years from holding executive positions in any party.
Cases involving the election commissioners and the parties are currently before the courts, and though the judges involved have promised to expedite proceedings, it remains unclear when they could be resolved.
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Royal Decree sets Oct 15 election date
His Majesty the King has signed the Royal Decree setting October 15 as the next general election date, but with the instruction the new poll must be free and fair, it emerged yesterday.
While royal endorsement of the election date will be welcomed by caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, analysts claimed there were still several factors that could impede a comprehensive resolution of the political crisis.
With a firm election date in place, attention will once again be focused on the three remaining Election Commission (EC) members, who are accused of favoring TRT.
As the news broke that the general election date had been given royal approval, the Central Administrative Court yesterday consented to investigate allegations of illegitimacy against the commissioners.
Jointly addressing the press yesterday, government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee and Cabinet Secretary-General Rongpol Charoenphan jointly announced that His Majesty, before undergoing spinal surgery at Siriraj Hospital on Thursday, had endorsed the Royal Decree to hold a general election in October – as proposed by the caretaker government in May.
Surapong added that the Royal Decree was published in the Royal Gazette yesterday and that it would take effect on August 24.
Rongpol said His Majesty had conveyed a message to Thaksin when endorsing the decree, delivered by his principal private secretary.
“The King approved the Royal Decree calling for the new election in the hope that it would bring peace to the country as quickly as possible,†said Rongpol. “The King also wants the new election to be fair and to run smoothly.â€
Top TRT executives were quick to praise the royal endorsement of the election date, which they said would resolve the political crisis that has rumbled on since Thaksin dissolved Parliament in February in response to mounting calls to step down.
“The people want an election. It will pave the way for a permanent government that can bring about economic and social stability,†said Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the deputy prime minister.
“All sides must accept the Royal Decree, which is the best solution to the current political crisis. Democracy gives people the power to decide.â€
Former opposition parties that boycotted the April 2 general election immediately announced their compliance with the Royal Decree. But they continued to be vocal in their criticism of the EC “Everyone is worried about the EC because if the current commissioners are responsible for organizing the election, then problems may continue to persist after the election,†Abhisit said.
Deputy Chat Thai leader Somsak Prissanananthakul agreed that the current EC lineup could create problems.
However, he refused to clarify whether the party wanted the whole commission to be replaced, or whether it just wanted the two vacant EC seats to be filled.
However, TRT immediately called on the Supreme Court to begin the process of finding two replacement commissioners to fill the empty seats following the death of one commissioner and the resignation of the other in May.
Thaksin said the current EC commissioners – Pol Gen Wasana Permlarp, Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien – are perfectly capable of overseeing the new election and that efforts to fill the empty seats must be expedited.
“I hope relevant organizations will rapidly appoint two new EC commissioners in time. It is now time for reconciliation on all sides,†Thaksin said.
“I think the caretaker government is open to dialogue with all sides, in compliance with His Majesty’s wishes.â€
On Thursday, Chat Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa agreed to meet Thaksin to resolve political differences – a move analysts say suggests it intends to form a coalition with TRT in the next government.
Yesterday, the EC announced that party-list and constituency candidates may register to contest the election from September 5 to 7 and from September 8 to 12 respectively.
Despite announcing on the day he dissolved Parliament that he would not lead the next government, the government spokesman said Thaksin will be the number one party-list candidate in the next election.
Surat Horachaikul, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said it was unprecedented for His Majesty to give instructions when endorsing a Royal Decree.
“From what I can remember, His Majesty the King has never attached any remarks to Royal Decrees, or any other legislation,†Surat said.
“However, it clearly shows that the King believes strongly in democracy.â€
Surat acknowledged that the TRT party appears to have the advantage over its political opponents.
“With the election in place, public support for PAD [People’s Alliance for Democracy] will diminish greatly,†he said.
However, Surat pointed out that now that the election date had been set, the way was clear for the Constitutional Court to consider the dissolution cases against both the TRT and Democrat parties for election fraud in the failed April 2 poll.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will continue its campaign to seek caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s exit from politics despite the general election having now been set to take place in mid-October.
PAD co-ordinator Suriyasai Katasila said the holding of the general election is a separate issue from that of the election. The democracy coalition’s campaign goal has consistently been for Mr. Thaksin to retire from politics due to his failure to clarify a number of corruption and nepotism allegations.
Mr. Suriyasai said the PAD will meet soon to discuss how to proceed with its call for Mr. Thaksin to step down until various alleged acts of corruption that took place under the aegis of his government can be thoroughly investigated and put to rest.
“Until now, Mr. Thaksin has failed to answer or clarify many doubts, including the tax-free sale of shares worth Bt73 billion of Shin Corp and the fact that he dissolved the Parliament to evade accountability,” the activist leader charged.
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“It has been clear that PAD’s activities have nothing to do with the electoral process,” he said, but deal with the legitimacy of the caretaker prime minister’s role in politics.
The People’s ALliance for Democracy, he added, has never opposed the principle of holding general elections, but the questions that concern PAD deal with Mr Thaksin’s legitimacy to govern and his alleged distortion and misuse of democratic institutions.