'Court not angered by NLA's decision to reject its EC choices'

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'Court not angered by NLA's decision to reject its EC choices'

By The Nation

 

Court of Justice spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai

 

The Court of Justice has denied having a conflict with the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) after the latter last week turned down all election commissioner candidates, including the court’s two picks. The court maintained that it had properly fulfilled its task to choose two candidates in line with the law.
 

The judges do not bring their personal feelings to their work, said Court of Justice spokesman Suriyan Hongwilai on Monday.

 

The comment came in response to speculation that tension between the two bodies might arise after news circulated that the NLA’s rejection of the candidates was partly due to the Supreme Court’s controversial selection process for its two candidates.

 

But Suriyan said that all parties had already done their best.

 

“For the Supreme Court’s part, [they] will proceed in accordance with the law,” he said.

 

The Election Commission (EC) organic bill set out that the EC would be comprised of seven members. Five were to be selected by a selection committee while the remaining two were to be picked by a meeting of the Supreme Court.

 

After last week’s rejection of all candidates, the NLA had to submit a letter to the Court notifying it of the vote results and calling for it to begin the selection process again.

 

Suriyan said the Supreme Court president would call for all 176 of its judges to convene to pick new candidates.

 

It's not yet clear whether the court would follow the same process or issue a new selection regulation, Suriyan said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30339709

 

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