Thailand: Election Commission strives to endorse most MPs by July 28 | Bangkok Post

The Election Commission is giving assurances it will be able to endorse at least 95% of MPs by July 28. At least 475 of 500 MPs are required to convene the first meeting of the House of Representatives. The EC has endorsed 358 MPs.

EC secretary-general Suthipol Thaweechaiyagarn said the agency would investigate complaints against the remaining winners, and endorse the results if it finds no reason to pursue the complaints. Pheu Thai’s potential prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva are among those still waiting.

Thailand: Thai Election Commission Postpones Certifying New Prime Minister | VoANews

Thailand’s Election Commission has delayed certifying the election victory of both Prime Minister-elect Yingluck Shinawatra and the former leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, because it says it is still looking into complaints of irregularities in the vote.

Ms. Yingluck is playing down the decision, but it is just one in a series of challenges she faces before forming a new government.
Voter fraud Thailand’s Election Commission has been investigating complaints of irregularities and fraud in the July 3 vote and postponed endorsing the victory of the 44-year-old Pheu Thai Party leader, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Thailand: Prime Minister-in-waiting confident she will be cleared | Channel NewsAsia

Thai prime minister-in-waiting Yingluck Shinawatra said on Wednesday that she was confident that alleged campaign irregularities which are holding up her appointment would be dismissed.

Thailand’s Election Commission on Tuesday put off a decision on whether to approve Yingluck and 141 other candidates, including outgoing premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, as members of the 500-seat lower house.

“There’s still time left under the law. I think the EC is trying to finish its investigation,” she said. “I hope and am confident that the EC will treat me and my Puea Thai Party with fairness and justice.”

Thailand: Yingluck yet to be endorsed by Thai election commission for fraud complaints | xinhua.net

The Election Commission (EC) of Thailand on Tuesday verified the election result of 358 members of the parliament, or 71.6 percent of the total 500 MPs, but decided not to verify the incoming prime minister (PM) Yingluck Shinawatra and the outgoing PM Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Both Yingluck and Abhisit are facing complaints filed in connection with electoral frauds and EC needs to investigate. Among 358, 249 are from constituency-based system and 109 from party-list.

Some key “Red-shirt” leaders — Jatuporn Prompan, Nutthawut Saikua and Weng Tojirakarn, who are also on Pheu Thai Party’s list, are not yet endorsed by the agency as they also have complaints regarding their qualification.

Editorials: ‘Noodlegate’ an utter farce | Bangkok Post

On the other, the complaint that the top candidate as the next prime minister had bribed voters is actually enshrined in the election laws. The idea that Yingluck Shinawatra’s noodle cooking amounted to an election bribe is ludicrous. Unfortunately, because of a bad law that never was corrected, the EC is actually forced to consider reversing Ms Yingluck’s election and banning her from politics.

How did we get in one week from a universally praised free and fair election to the point where almost every campaign stop by every candidate is contested by hard-nosed opponents?

It is not as if this issue arose suddenly. It is almost three years since then-prime minister Samak Sundaravej was thrown out of office because he had once conducted cooking shows on television.

Thailand: Key Thai Democrat disagrees with Election Commission’s Yingluck noodle probe | Bangkok Post

Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Smutharaks says he opposes an Election Commission investigation into allegations that Yingluck Shinawatra, likely the next prime minister, broke the election law by giving food to voters.

Mr Buranaj yesterday said he disagreed with the EC’s move to investigate an allegation that Ms Yingluck violated election law when she fried noodles and distributed them to voters during a May 31 campaign stop in Nakhon Ratchasima province. Mr Buranaj said cooking in front of voters was a common campaign activity and the leaders of other parties had also done this during their campaigns.

The EC has already received the findings of the investigation into the matter by the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial election commission. The EC is set to consider the case on Tuesday.

Thailand: Thai Democrats seek Pheu Thai Party’s dissolution | Bangkok Post

The Democrat Party of Friday initiated legal action seeking the dissolution of the Pheu Thai Party, filing a complaint with the Election Commission about the involvement of banned politicians.

Democrat Party’s legal team member Wirat Kallayasiri (Photo by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd)

The outgoing ruling party asked the Election Commission to recommend that the rival Puea Thai Party, which won the July 3 general election, be disbanded on the grounds that banned politicians were involved in its election campaign.

Thailand: Thailand elects first woman prime minister | WORLD News

Thailand’s opposition has won a landslide election victory, led by the sister of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a triumph for red-shirt protesters who clashed with the army last year.

Exit polls showed Yingluck Shinawatra’s Puea Thai (For Thais) party winning a clear majority of parliament’s 500 seats, paving the way for the 44-year-old business executive to become Thailand’s first woman prime minister.

“I’ll do my best and will not disappoint you,” she told supporters after receiving a call of congratulations from her billionaire brother, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives in Dubai to avoid jail for graft charges that he says were politically motivated. “He told me that there is still much hard work ahead of us,” she said.