Fraud claims mar Senate poll
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Fraud claims mar Senate poll

Election Commission says it is busy investigating as final round of national voting draws to a close

Senate candidates gather in their assigned groups as they prepare to cast ballots in the national election at Impact Muang Thong Thani on Wednesday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Senate candidates gather in their assigned groups as they prepare to cast ballots in the national election at Impact Muang Thong Thani on Wednesday. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

The final round of voting to elect 200 new senators concluded early Thursday morning, with official results to be announced next Tuesday, amid allegations of poll fraud, which the Election Commission (EC) said it was investigating.

A total of 2,989 successful candidates from the previous provincial-level election competed in the final poll, conducted using the same intra- and inter-group voting system, at Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi.

Aside from the 200 elected senators, another 100 candidates were being chosen as reserves to fill any vacancies that might arise later, through disqualification or for other reasons. The 200 senators-elect come from 20 professional groups, which were allotted a quota of 10 senators each.

Since the three-phase election began on June 9, the EC has been busy responding to reports about suspected attempts to manipulate the results. Unusual developments have reportedly been observed in several provinces, including Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Pathum Thani.

Some groups of candidates reportedly met and joined activities arranged for them in these provinces ahead of the final vote, and were suspected to be engaged in some form of collusion, according to media reports.

The EC said it was aware of these unusual activities and had been closely monitoring them since the first round of the election at the district level.

The poll body said it had begun investigating alleged misconduct cases and would continue to welcome more information about alleged poll fraud from any parties.

Hathairat Phaholtap, editor of The Isaan Record, an independent media outlet based in Khon Kaen, said she had been approached earlier by someone and offered 50,000 baht per vote for 10 specific candidates.

Ms Hathairat, who was eliminated in the first round of voting on Wednesday morning, said the person in question, a well-known politician, called her on the phone but she didn’t record the conversation, so she did not have hard evidence to give the EC.

Thanuphong Sakthanawat, alias Na Kluay Choen Yim, a popular TV comedian who did not win the intra-group vote on Wednesday, said he, too, was approached by someone who called him on the phone and offered him some “tea money” in exchange for his vote, which he turned down.

Mr Thanuphong claimed that candidates winning with a far higher vote than most other winning candidates were unlikely to be independent candidates as claimed.

Yingcheep Atchanont, the manager of Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw), dismissed media reports about some people from iLaw lobbying for votes for candidates linked to the organisation.

“Over the past two weeks, iLaw has received a lot of information from various Senate election candidates who said they had been approached by someone claiming to represent iLaw,” he said.

Mr Yingcheep insisted iLaw, which has warned that the vote could be manipulated, had not fielded any candidate in this election, saying all these alleged poll fraud attempts were fake and could be easily proved.

iLaw played a major role in trying to create public awareness about the Senate election and encourage people to run. It created a website that was shut down for several days amid questions about whether it violated EC rules about publicity. The Administrative Court later sided with candidates who complained the rules were too restrictive and the Senate67 website came back online. (Story continues below)

Hathairat Phaholtap, editor of The Isaan Record, talks to reporters after her Senate candidacy ended in the first round of voting on Wednesday. She said she had been approached earlier by someone and offered 50,000 baht per vote for 10 specific candidates. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Hathairat Phaholtap, editor of The Isaan Record, talks to reporters after her Senate candidacy ended in the first round of voting on Wednesday. She said she had been approached earlier by someone and offered 50,000 baht per vote for 10 specific candidates. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Pro-democracy push

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, chairman of the Progressive Movement, which is allied with the opposition Move Forward  Party (MFP), posted on social media on Tuesday night what he called a letter to pro-democracy candidates in the Senate election.

He urged these candidates to stick to their intention to get as many pro-democracy candidates as possible into the Upper House. He called on them to never let their urge to become senators themselves overrule that goal.

He called the poll an opportunity that could result in the rewriting of the constitution to require the Senate to be elected by the public to allow greater independence of important institutions.

“Do you still want to see this happen? Or has your urge to become a senator already ruined our shared dream?” he wrote.  

Meanwhile, the anti-MFP Facebook page Wan Ni Klao Klai Kohok Arai (What lies has MFP come up with today?) claimed some Senate candidates admitted to being duped into joining what was first touted to be an independent race for seats but later turned out be collusion to vote for candidates that the opposition party wants to win the election.

Move Forward insisted in a statement in response that it had nothing to do with the Senate election. It said it had instructed all party members to stay away from the race while strictly following the organic law on the composition of the Senate.

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