The Election Commission (EC) may have to endorse red-shirt core leader Jatuporn Prompan, now in custody for terrorism, as an MP for the time being before seeking the Constitutional Court’s consideration later on.
Election Commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham pointed out that although the EC agreed with its legal team’s suggestion that Mr Jatuporn who failed to vote in the 3 July election should be disqualified for an MP post, there are no legal provisions that authorize the EC or the Supreme Court to do so.
Therefore, she said it might be necessary for the EC to initially certify the detainee as a Pheu Thai party-list MP by 12 July and then forward the matter to the Constitutional Court via the Parliament President for deliberation on his eligibility accordingly.
As a consequence of his detention, Mr Jatuporn was unable to come out to vote on 3 July, and he was speculated to be faced with disqualification in compliance with the electoral law, which stipulates that any person failing to exercise his or her electoral right may be deprived of the right to run for candidacy.
Meanwhile, Democrat party-list MP-elect Boonyod Sukthinthai expressed disappointment with the EC for allowing Mr Jatuporn to become an MP and passing on the responsibility for the case to the Constitutional Court. He insisted that the power to disqualify MPs rested with the EC and if it was afraid to use such power, he would confer with the Democrat legal team to determine whether a lawsuit should be filed against the commission for negligence of duty.
BANGKOK, 6 July 2011 (NNT) – Reporter : Surapan Laotharanarit
News Date : 06 July 2011
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