EC member Somchai Srisuttiyakorn said there are two possible options for staging a new general election and the commission will debate them after studying the court ruling. Constitutional Court Secretary-General Pimol Thampitakpong: “The election was not held on the same day nationwide, which goes against the constitution.” “The first option is that the EC and the government work together and set a new election date within 60 days,” he said. “The other is that the EC and all political parties work out the election date, which doesn’t have to be within a 60-day time frame.” Mr Somchai said the two possible scenarios are based on the charter court’s 2006 ruling which nullified that year’s general election and asked the EC and political parties to work out a new poll date. He said even though the 2006 ruling stated that a fresh election should be organised within 60 days, a meeting of political party leaders agreed to delay the poll.
A royal decree was eventually issued for the election to be held on Oct 15, 2006, but it was derailed by a military coup on Sept 16.
The Constitution Court ruled Friday by a 6-3 vote that the Feb 2 general election was unconstitutional.
Earlier report: Court voids Feb 2 general election
The court was ruling on a complaint lodged by Kittipong Kamolthammawong, a law lecturer at Thammasat University, via the Office of the Ombudsman. It decided the poll violated Section 108 of the charter because it was not completed in one day.
The court based its ruling on Paragraph 2 of the section, which stipulates a general election must be held on a single day nationwide.
Voting could not take place on Feb 2 in 28 constituencies in eight southern provinces because no candidates were registered due to disruptions by anti-government protesters.
Full Article: Election Commission says no new vote for months | Bangkok Post: news.