Court mulls TRC’s dissolution

Party members to convene on Monday

The Constitutional Court yesterday accepted an Election Commission (EC) request for a hearing to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart Party (TRC) for nominating Princess Ubolratana as its candidate for prime minister.

After considering the

EC’s request for more than an hour, the court announced the judges had unanimously agreed to accept the case for trial.

The TRC is required to submit its defence within seven days of receiving its copy of the EC’s complaint. The court has scheduled the next hearing for Feb 27, though a ruling would not be announced that day.

The court did not order the TRC to cease election campaigning, or any other political activity.

Chaowana Traimas, secretary-general of the Office of the Constitutional Court, said the court would set a date for a ruling when it is finished examining the case.

Shortly afterwards, Mitti Tiyapairat, the TRC’s secretary-general, received a copy of the EC’s complaint, which was delivered by the court’s staff to the party’s headquarters on Chaeng Watthana Road in Laksi district.

Phichit Chuenban, the TRC’s legal adviser, said the legal team will spend the weekend preparing the party’s defence, and the party’s executive board is expected to convene on Monday to discuss the matter further.

The EC had recommended the court disband the party for violating the spirit of the constitutional monarchy and the 2017 Political Parties Act by nominating Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate last Friday.

The recommendation, according to the EC, is based on Section 92 (2) of the 2017 organic law on political parties, which allows the EC to propose the dissolution of a party to the court if it has obtained enough evidence that the party committed an act deemed hostile

to the monarchy.

On Feb 8, His Majesty the King issued remarks that ended Princess Ubolratana’s nomination — saying that although she had relinquished her royal titles, the princess is still a member of the royal family and as such, must remain outside of politics, and that the attempt to get the princess involved in politics was highly inappropriate.

Subsequently last Monday, the EC rejected Princess Ubolratana’s nomination, and on Wednesday asked the court to dissolve the party.

Some parties have exploited the episode to demand TRC’s dissolution among other punishments. Some reports suggest its executives may also

face a life-time ban from politics.

The court yesterday also dismissed TRC’s request to reject the EC’s dissolution recommendation, which was submitted by TRC party-list candidate Ruengkrai Leekitwattana.

Mr Ruengkrai accused the EC of dereliction of duty for failing to hear the party’s explanation before seeking its dissolution.

Meanwhile, a group of activists who calls itself “People Who Want Elections” gathered outside the court yesterday to oppose the EC’s recommendation.

Led by Ekachai Hongkangwan, the group said the TRC’s disbandment would reignite political conflicts.

In light of the action being taken,

TRC’s key election strategists and campaigners have decided to stop campaigning, leaving constituency candidates to canvass for votes alone.

Chaturon Chaisang, TRC’s chief election strategist, told reporters at the party’s headquarters yesterday they had ceased making speeches and attending campaign rallies to prevent further complications.

Nattawut Saikuar, TRC’s chief campaigner, said the party’s candidates in about 100 constituencies would continue meeting voters, but the campaign teams from the party’s headquarters would suspend their field activities until the court reaches a decision.

“The issue is sensitive. Making

speeches before crowds of people would not go down well,” said Mr Chaturon. “We should focus on the preparation of our defence at the court ... We will not make any explanations to people pending the hearing.”

He said the absence of key party figures would not seriously affect candidates’ election campaigns. When asked if his and Mr Nattawut’s absence from the party since Feb 8 was indicative of a rift within the TRC, Mr Chaturon said there was no split, and that he is ready to support the party through the hearings until a decision is reached.

About 506 out of more than 10,000 candidates registering for the March 24 election are likely to miss out after failing the Election Commission (EC)’s qualifications verification process, said a source.

These people have registered for the election in the constituency system comprising a total of 350 constituencies nationwide.

A total of 253 candidates will likely be disqualified because they joined their party less than 90 days before the election, said the source.

The minimum 90-day requirement is counted from the day the parties filed for registration, said the source.

Another 253 candidates who may face disqualification today are those whose names were found to be registered under more than one party.

However, the source said, there was still confusion as to whether the provincial election commission offices should strictly use party registration information as shown in the EC’s database, or paper-based evidence such as payment receipts submitted by the candidates, when making their decisions.

The EC only on Tuesday sent out a memorandum to the provincial offices, telling them that if they cannot find information about certain candidates in the database, they may instead use paper-based evidence.

Under Section 49 of the organic law on the election of members of parliament, candidates who are disqualified by the EC may petition the Supreme Court in seven days against the EC’s decision.

The court is required to rule on the petition at least three days before the election.

And if the court rules in favour of the EC, the EC will be duty-bound to lodge a complaint with police against the disqualified candidates as well as the party leaders who vouched for them.

Several candidates who registered in Bangkok were among those found to be unqualified for the race because they didn’t fulfil the minimum 90-day party membership requirement, said Witchuda Mekhanuwong, director of the office of Bangkok’s election commission.

A total of 932 election candidates from all 51 parties completed their candidacy registration on Feb 4-8, she said.

As for the overseas vote, a total of 62,415 voters have registered to case their votes in the countries where they currently live, said Chatri Atchananan, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs.

The overseas vote registration information was compiled by the Thai 94 embassies and consulates around the world.