A group of former senator candidates asked the EC to delay the announcement of 200 prospective senators and to examine the results, and to order a new election if collusion is found.
At the Election Commission (EC), Mr. Jakraphong Kongpanya, a former candidate for the Senate (Senator) Group 12, along with representatives of the former candidates, submitted a petition to the EC to object to the announcement of the names of the 200 senators who were selected. Mr. Jakraphong stated that after the senators were selected on June 26 and the names of the senators were chosen, the law requires a 5-day wait before announcing the approval of the 200 senators. Therefore, in the process that the EC organized the election, we did not accuse them. However, when the results of the election were honest and fair, we found senators who had knowledge and expertise in those 20 occupations and got senators, what would happen? We would have seen it in the media. However, this is a system that if we do not help monitor and inspec
t, it will not have any good results. However, we have to admit that the system is somewhat good, which is democratic, even if it is not fully democratic, but it is better than canceling it and doing something else. Today, we are objecting according to the law. It is not that we lost and then come to cause trouble or are sore losers who like to fight.
Mr. Jakraphong said that there were people with knowledge and higher education who were dropped out since the district round, but many people who entered the system first wore sandals and T-shirts. This is a question of what happened to the system. Has the Election Commission’s qualifications been checked correctly and completely? And has the recruitment, certification, and inspection process been carried out with standards? Many famous people have dropped out, but we still don’t know why. The Election Commission’s duty is to strictly check qualifications so that people with incorrect qualifications do not enter the system. When there is no inspection or the in
spection is not serious, it will cause people from many groups and areas to flow into the system and mix with those who are fully qualified. When this happens, there is unfairness from the beginning.
Mr. Jakkraphong added that today, representatives of former senator candidates gathered to submit a request to the EC: 1. The EC must stop announcing the 200 names that the senators have reserved in order to verify the accuracy of every vote to see if the senator election this time has taken advantage of other candidates, which is called collusion. 2. If the results of the investigation find that the votes have grounds or reasons to be called vote collusion, the EC must declare the results of the senator election this time invalid and order a new senator election immediately. 3. Before the new election, the EC must verify the qualifications of all new candidates to prevent new candidates who do not actually have the legal qualifications in all 20 occupational groups. 4. On the day of the new election, the EC mus
t strictly prohibit candidates from bringing any documents, cheat sheets, or writing down any numbers on their bodies, including any communication devices, into the polling location. 5. The EC must print new introductory documents or new senator 3 and distribute them to new candidates before entering the voting booths, instead of handing them out a week before the election like this time, to prevent cheat sheets.
Therefore, if the EC does what we demand, no matter what the result is, we ask all parties to accept it and we are ready to accept it and consider it the end of the vote to allow the 200 senators to work and for the country to move forward. However, right now, we are not here to slander anyone until we help each other investigate. But don’t go and investigate in a room with just the two of you and then say that everything is right or that everything is wrong. That’s not right. And the investigation process should find real experts to investigate. This is a matter of regulations and laws that we hav
e to improve and develop further. But the system is already good. The EC is already working well. But if we find a problem, we have to investigate. Don’t move forward because you have already buttoned the first button wrong, which is allowing unqualified people into the system. And today you are about to button the last button, which is announcing the names of the 200 senators. But I believe that it can’t be done because you have already buttoned it wrong from the first button.-319.-Thai News Agency
Source: Thai News Agency