Thai court to suspend Senate decision

BANGKOK – A former Senate candidate on Monday asked the Supreme Administrative Court to suspend the announcement of the Senate election result pending a decision on the electoral office’s handling of the Senate race.

In a petition, Jaturan Boonbenjarat, also secretary general of the Clean Politics group, accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of dereliction of duty in verifying the qualifications of Senate candidates, which could undermine the integrity of the electoral process.

Jaturan asked the court to hold an urgent hearing to consider suspending the EC’s announcement of the Senate election result until the qualifications of the 200 elected senators and the 100 others on the reserve list have been thoroughly verified.

The EC is expected to announce the election results today.

He alleged that the Senate election process was manipulated by political groups and interest groups because several candidates made false statements about their professional backgrounds.

Jaturan stressed that it was not his evil intention to have the Senate elections declared invalid and said:

“Several people have reported irregularities. I fear that some of these elected senators are not qualified to do the job and may be influenced by vested interests. That is why I have asked the court to hold an urgent hearing before the result is announced,” he said.

• Keywords: Senate election, Thai