THAI BETS LODGE COMPLAINTS; IMPEACH BID VS POLL BODY GAINS STEAM

BANGKOK—

Several antijunta candidates in Thailand lodged fresh complaints with the Election Commission on Friday over bungled tallies and alleged vote-buying following a controversial ballot that has left politics in the kingdom in limbo.

Candidates from at least two parties issued fresh complaints with the commission on Friday over alleged irregularities.

Vote buying

A member of the antijunta Future Forward party accused the promilitary Phalang Pracharat of currying favor among local officials by gifting them cash and gifts.

“It’s against the law, it can be seen as vote-buying,” said Future Forward spokesperson Pannika Wanich.

Another Future Forward candidate reported voter intimidation inside a Bangkok polling station.

“There was a military officer standing inside the polling station to see whether military officials have voted for the party he wanted,” candidate Chris Potranan said in a complaint filed on Friday.

Dodgy vote count

A member of the antijunta Pheu Thai party also lodged objections over allegedly dodgy counts in his Bangkok constituency.

“Our observers at polling stations reported inaccuracies in tallies as counting was conducted in a dark area,” Pheu Thai candidate Trirat Sirichantharopas said.

The Election Commission has received more than 180 complaints, 40 of which were filed in the immediate aftermath of the poll.

On Thursday, the commission unexpectedly released the latest popular vote tallies, before quickly taking them down and reposting revised numbers.

The tally showed more than 2.1 million invalidated votes, but election officials did not respond to questions about the ballots.

The election monitor Asian Network for Free Elections said the haphazard release of results “reflects poorly” on the commission.

Bid to impeach poll body

A campaign calling for the commission to be dissolved gathered steam Friday, with 20,000 supporters needed to officially submit a petition requesting the body be impeached.

“The Election Commission has failed to perform its duty,” said the student activist behind the campaign, Tanawat Wongchai.

Some 1,000 supporters had backed the petition as of Friday afternoon, he said.

The junta-backed Phalang Pracharat party, whose prime ministerial candidate is 2014 coup leader Prayut Chan-OCha, clinched a majority of popular votes in Sunday’s polls.

In second place was its main rival Pheu Thai, the party linked to self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

With parliamentary seats yet to be confirmed, both parties have claimed the right to govern.

Pheu Thai and Future Forward formed a coalition with five other parties this week claiming to hold more than half of all seats in the lower house of parliament and the right to form a government.

But the 250 seats in the Senate are all military-appointed and antijunta parties need more votes to secure enough seats to elect a premiere.