The Election Commission of Thailand on Tuesday certified the MP status of Prime Minister designate Yingluck Shinawatra and Caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai media reported.
The EC certified 12 more MPs Tuesday. Among the twelve are Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister candidate from fugitive prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party, Caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Acting Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban from the elite-back Democrat Party, Thai media reported.
The EC had spent about two weeks after the election day on July 3 to probe into a complain on electoral fraud amid pressure from various political groups, especially the pro-Thaksin “red-shirt” camp, who organized a small rally in front of the EC office last week.
“The EC found no ground of the allegations against them,” Thai newspaper Daily World Today quoted EC commissioner Sodsri Satayatham as saying.
So far, the EC has certified 358 MPs. The House of Representatives needs more than 475 MPs, or 95 percent of the House seats, in order to hold its first session, where the MPs will vote to formally elect the prime minister.
About ten red-shirt key members who are also Pheu Thai MPs elect have not yet been certified.
The certification paved the way for Yingluck, PM candidate from Pheu Thai which got more than half of the House seats, to be the 28th prime minister and first woman prime minister of Thailand.
Full Article: Thai Election Body Certifies Yingluck’s MP Status.