Amid netizens uproar over likely poll delay, EC tells govt to publish decree

[snoop1130]

Amid netizens uproar over likely poll delay, EC tells govt to publish decree

By Kas Chanwanpen 
The Nation

 

A Thai-language hashtag that can be translated to English as #delaymyass became top trending on Twitter, with netizens slamming the junta, venting their anger about the delay and demanding an election in hundreds of thousands of different tweets.

 

Left holding a hot potato to determine the election date, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday said it was ready to hold an election and was only waiting for the government to issue the royal decree.

 

The EC will consider and announce the election date only after the election royal decree is published in the Royal Gazette, said EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong on Friday.

 

The development came after Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam had informed the agency on Thursday of activities surrounding the royal coronation ceremony and hinted that February 24 may no longer be an appropriate election date due to the two events overlapping.

 

The deputy PM took pains to distance the government from what would be a controversial election delay, saying it was the EC’s authority and responsibility to decide. But he suggested on Friday that March 24 could be a perfect date for the election to avoid any clash between it and the coronation processes.

 

“If it’s March 24, the results can be announced on May 22 which is after the royal coronation,” Wissanu said, referring to the constitutional condition that the election results be announced within 60 days after the poll.

 

EC Secretary-General Jarungvith Phumma also met on Friday with Wissanu to represent the agency in wishing him a happy New Year. He denied having discussed the election date with the deputy prime minister.

 

“The EC has already had initial discussions about the election date,” said Jarungvith. “But the final decision depends on the royal decree.”

 

A source close to the EC revealed the agency preferred March 10 as the new election date. But the authority had not confirmed that by press time.

 

The strong possibility of another election delay has been stirring up anger among netizens since Thursday, after Wissanu cited the royal coronation as allegedly making organising a February 24 election difficult.

 

A Thai-language hashtag that can be translated to English as #delaymyass became top trending on Twitter, with netizens slamming the junta, venting their anger about the delay and demanding an election in hundreds of thousands of different tweets.

 

Political activists and some politicians also spoke out against the possible postponement.

 

Pro-bono human rights lawyer Anon Nampa announced yesterday that an activity against an election delay would be held this Sunday at the skywalk around the Victory Monument.

 

Another activist Ekachai Hongkangwan submitted a letter to the EC insisting they hold the election on February 24 as previously planned.

 

He suggested that the EC could announce the election results in 30 days to prevent any overlap with the royal coronation.

 

The pro-democracy Future Forward Party (FWP) also showed a solid stance opposing any change in the election date.

 

FWP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit said on Thursday that the junta was only using the coronation as an excuse to again put off the vote.

 

Announcing the poll results earlier to allow time for the coronation is feasible if the junta were sincere about the election, Thanathorn said.

 

FWP was ready to run in a February election and strongly disagreed for any vote postponement, regardless of the excuse, he stressed.

 

Other parties such as the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat Party and medium-sized Bhumjaithai party, on the other hand, said they were ready for the election no matter when the voting takes place.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30361630

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-1-4

[ukrules]

How long does it usually take them to announce the result of an election?

 

I can't remember as it was quite some time ago when there was an election before but I would have thought definitive results could be available inside a week.

[Artisi]

10 minutes ago, ukrules said:

How long does it usually take them to announce the result of an election?

 

I can't remember as it was quite some time ago when there was an election before but I would have thought definitive results could be available inside a week.

time depends on how much manipulation is needed to arrive at the preferred decision.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

25 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

A Thai-language hashtag that can be translated to English as #delaymyass became top trending on Twitter, with netizens slamming the junta, venting their anger about the delay and demanding an election in hundreds of thousands of different tweets.

 

 

However, from reading the above OP, it still sounds like everything hinges of the issuance of a royal decree.  And who knows what's likely to happen, or not, with that...

 

[darksidedog]

44 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

netizens slamming the junta, venting their anger about the delay and demanding an election in hundreds of thousands of different tweets.

 

The natives are definitely not amused about more shenanigans then. There are two different possibilities here. Either the Junta is trying to squeeze out as much time as they can at the helm, or they are completely and utterly incompetent, in allowing such a piss poor state of affairs to happen, given they have known about a coronation for a long time now. In either event, it proves they are incapable and unworthy of running a country.

[janclaes47]

36 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

“If it’s March 24, the results can be announced on May 22 which is after the royal coronation,” Wissanu said, referring to the constitutional condition that the election results be announced within 60 days after the poll.

 

But, but

 

 

[Eligius]

Two months to announce the election results? Another delay? For God's sake - surely the Thai people should be rising up in their MILLIONS and saying: 'WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE DAILY INSULTS TO OUR INTELLIGENCE'! (And just grumbling about it on Twitter will NOT cut it!).

[Eligius]

47 minutes ago, Artisi said:

time depends on how much manipulation is needed to arrive at the preferred decision.

If people cannot see by now that the whole 'election' is a disgraceful, manipulated fraud - then there is no hope for them or their perceptiveness. They must be living in a cave (which, of course, is where the Thai faux-elite would prefer to have the sovereignty holders of the nation - the Thai People - grovel in the dust all their lives long!).

 

[baboon]

4 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Two months to announce the election results? Another delay? For God's sake - surely the Thai people should be rising up in their MILLIONS and saying: 'WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE DAILY INSULTS TO OUR INTELLIGENCE'! (And just grumbling about it on Twitter will NOT cut it!).

Salami tactics now employed? 'Look, just another 90 days. Perhaps 30 more after. What's the big deal?' At what point then do the public scream ENOUGH! in the face of 'But, but, just a little longer... Just a few more days...'?

[dcnx]

All of a sudden Somchai remembered there was an upcoming coronation?

 

These people.... honestly. 

 

But the Thais take it over and over again so this is what they deserve. When they are fed up, they will do something about it. 

[ocddave]

The 20 year plan is actually to delay, then delay some more, eventually 20 years will have passed.

[robblok]

2 hours ago, Eligius said:

Two months to announce the election results? Another delay? For God's sake - surely the Thai people should be rising up in their MILLIONS and saying: 'WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THESE DAILY INSULTS TO OUR INTELLIGENCE'! (And just grumbling about it on Twitter will NOT cut it!).

The two months delay is real suspect.. if that will the case then there is absolutely no reason to trust the results. Dont they know that how stupid it looks

 

[bangkokfrog]

Could it be that they know there may be mass problems / protests after the (already decided) election and don't want this to interfere with the Coronation?

[ukrules]

5 hours ago, baboon said:

Salami tactics now employed? 'Look, just another 90 days. Perhaps 30 more after. What's the big deal?' At what point then do the public scream ENOUGH! in the face of 'But, but, just a little longer... Just a few more days...'?

Do you think the odds of civil war within 2019 have now risen ?

[neeray]

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

The natives are definitely not amused about more shenanigans then. There are two different possibilities here. Either the Junta is trying to squeeze out as much time as they can at the helm, or they are completely and utterly incompetent, in allowing such a piss poor state of affairs to happen, given they have known about a coronation for a long time now. In either event, it proves they are incapable and unworthy of running a country.

..."or they are completely and utterly incompetent,..."

..."they are incapable and unworthy of running a country"

I like these excepts.

But I think there is a silver lining here for anti junta people. The more that they stall and jerk around, the more that it may work against them. This gives time for anti junta sentiments to keep building. It's like free "negative advertising". But they're too incompetent to see that.

[Oziex1]

They hand balled the election date to the EC who said it was about the royal decree. Why was the government unable to make that announcement?

[Odysseus123]

What a farce.

 

From the outside looking in, the view is even worse.

[Chang_paarp]

The next excuse will be a threat to the coronation or HRH. 

 

Waiting for it........

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, robblok said:

The two months delay is real suspect.. if that will the case then there is absolutely no reason to trust the results. Dont they know that how stupid it looks

 

No, they don't know how stupid they look, mainly because they themselves are too stupid. 

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

No, they don't know how stupid they look, mainly because they themselves are too stupid. 

Indeed.

 

Lost in their own bubble.Only exportable to Myanmar,Cambodia and Laos.

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

Indeed.

 

Lost in their own bubble.Only exportable to Myanmar,Cambodia and Laos.

Would any other country really want them, I doubt it.?

[connda]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“If it’s March 24, the results can be announced on May 22 which is after the royal coronation,” Wissanu said

I love the fact that it takes 2 months to modify count the election results.   Just about any other country in the world publishes the election results within 24 hours after the polls close except in the case of close races.

 

[madmitch]

15 minutes ago, connda said:

I love the fact that it takes 2 months to modify count the election results.   Just about any other country in the world publishes the election results within 24 hours after the polls close except in the case of close races.

 

Whatever happened to this announcement?

 

[PatOngo]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

Do you think the odds of civil war within 2019 have now risen ?

Next months headline....The Natives are Revolting!

[Srikcir]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“But the final decision depends on the royal decree.”

A confusing statement at best and misleading at worst.

The "royal decree" is simply a formal published announcement by the government in concurrence with the EC as to the election date.

In 2013 the EC actually argued against the Yingluck's planned election date (December 2013?) saying that the monarch must first issue a royal decree. That issue was litigated and the court ruled that it was sufficient only for the government and the EC to agree as to the election date - the time of which was defined by the constitution to be held within 60 days. The election was then held in February 2014.

In the current situation it is the government that has sole control over the election date. And as the junta acts with constitutional authority in lieu of the laws and the 2017 Constitution, it alone decides when the election will be held.

The "installation" of an elected government (House parliament ministers and Prime Minister including appointed Cabinet members) requires the current (outgoing) government to submit the final results to the monarch for royal endorsement. It is my understanding however that such endorsement can be done before any coronation under the authority of royal prerogative (my translation) given the current uncontested line of succession.

[NCC1701A]

how far north of Bangkok will the DMZ be?

[HalfLight]

Maybe they will. Turkeys voting for an early Christmas? Maybe.

 

 

[DrTuner]

If the dear netizens would figure out there are over 60M people in Thailand between their irate outrages for dancing hamsters and adulterated snail whitening creams, they would notice simply walzing over BKK en masse would take care of any "elections".

[DrTuner]

8 hours ago, ukrules said:

Do you think the odds of civil war within 2019 have now risen ?

At some point they'll just have to do it, or be stuck in the forever repeating cycle of coups. The French did it right.

[zzaa09]

7 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Next months headline....The Natives are Revolting!

Yet, past true and honest rebellions and resistance have little organization and keen strategy, less supported masses. 

Peasant rebellions have grand historic promise in Siam/Thailand, yet peter out without supportive numbers.

 

If such "revolts" were to become popular - the most logical manner might be to throw Gandhi-esque disposition at them. 

It's been know to work in the past.