Thai Premier Rejects Eu's Proposal To Monitor Elections

[bingobongo]

oh how nice, the boys in green do not want to go away and will not go away.....so much for transparency, welcome to your police state and LOJ (land of junta)

Thai premier rejects EU's proposal to monitor elections

Election Commissioner Aphichart Sukhagganond said Tuesday that the EU's proposed terms would have let it operate completely independently in a manner that could interfere with the work of election officials.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/29/...d-Elections.php

[cdnvic]

Not easy to stuff a ballot box with some nosy German watching you all the time.

[Charma]

Of all the political stories posted on TV over recent months, this is perhaps the most worrying of all. What are they afraid of? They have actually said that they would not agree to this as the EU observers would be "independent". What do they expect them to be!

What kind of legitimacy will the new government have? First, ban the main opposition party, then ban all their top politicians and then when it looks like people may still want to vote for their associates, ban independent monitoring. Thailand seems not too many steps from Zimbabwe at the moment!

Edited August 29, 2007 by Charma

[Tony Clifton]

Thread closed?

EU welcomed only as "observer": Surayud

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said Wednesday that the European Union cannot come in to control the general election of Thailand but its welcomed to observe the election.

Surayud said he had been informed by Election Commission Chairman Apichart Sukhakkhanont that EC wanted t sign a memorandum of understanding with Thailand in a way that it would control, not monitor, the election.

Surayud said the EC disagreed with request of the EC and the government supported the EC's stand.

"We have to abide by our principles and our way of working and we will use our law and will not allow outsiders to have authority over our own officials," Surayud said.

The Nation

[howtoescape]

How can the EC judge Thai elections when in the UK the Labour government will sack ALL Public Servants who are members of a certain legitimate political party who views oppose its own.

EC should get its own house in order before dictating to others.

(i am currently watching Dave on Newsnight, democracy isnt all its cracked up to be when only 1 of 3 identical parties can be elected.)

[billzant]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

[cdnvic]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

They did have international monitors last time.

International team to monitor presidential election

Observers will be part of OSCE's human rights office

From David de Sola

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election.

"The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."

Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.

After Annan rejected their request, saying the administration must make the application, the Democrats asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.

The issue was hotly debated in the House, and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill that barred federal funds from being used for the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.

In a letter dated July 30 and released last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning the U.N. issue.

"I am pleased that Secretary Powell is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process," said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.

"The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," she said in a news release.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.

"This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.

"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."

OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, will send a preliminary mission to Washington in September to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission, Gunnarsdottir said.

The organization, which counts among its missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation, will then determine how many observers are required and where in the United States they will be sent.

"OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.

The spokesman said the United States does not have any details on the size and composition of the observers or what countries will provide them.

OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past decade, Gunnarsdottir said.

In November 2002, OSCE sent 10 observers on a weeklong mission to monitor the U.S. midterm elections. OSCE also sent observers to monitor the California gubernatorial recall election last year.

More recently, OSCE monitored the elections in Northern Ireland in November and in Spain in March.

==================================

I also believe the UK and US didn't have their armies overthrow the last elected government.

Edited August 30, 2007 by cdnvic

[TEFLMike]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

Erm, sat here wondering what the dickens Europe, or indeed the USA has to do with Thailand?

[dominique355]

How can the EC judge Thai elections when in the UK the Labour government will sack ALL Public Servants who are members of a certain legitimate political party who views oppose its own.

EC should get its own house in order before dictating to others.

(i am currently watching Dave on Newsnight, democracy isnt all its cracked up to be when only 1 of 3 identical parties can be elected.)

Aren't you mixing up things?

EC = Election Commisysion (Thai)

UK = Independent country

EU = European Union

The EU is NOT the UK Labour Government and is not responsible for their actions.

How can Thai elections be fair and truly democratic with Martial Law still in half the country? Haven't we seen the spirit of the present Government during the Constitution vote when taxis, who advertised a different opinion were prosecuted?

I agree that the EU isn't exactly the ideal embodiment when true Democracy is at issue, but Thailand is certainly not a democracy. The Military is way to powerful here and not subject to the government. In fact, it's the Military who set up a government, whereas in a true democracy, it's the other way round.

As PM Surayud said: The new government is a "New Year Present" graciously given to the stupid people by the omnipotent Military.

[PeaceBlondie]

The problem with merely monitoring elections, as the Carter Center often does, is that monitors cannot stop the electoral violations. They can only report and condemn the violations, and then the country proceeds with its illegally elected officials.

Even mere monitoring would be better than nothing. Nicaragua had a clean election, monitored by the Carter Center, with Jimmy Carter on hand. When the vote showed that Violeta Chamorro had won a clean election, Carter was able to help convince Daniel Ortega to concede that he had lost.

[jackr]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Putting it the other way round is folly... a case of first world-third world springs to mind coupled with military ruling and Muang Thai powers-that-be having to get it right or risk not being taken seriously as a nation state

[bingobongo]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

yes, but in Florida they did not roll out the tanks and send boys with automatic weapons to man checkpoints, take control of the TV stations and enforce martial law

[Ricardo]

Would the US or the UK allow Thailand to monitor their elections? In Florida?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

yes, but in Florida they did not roll out the tanks and send boys with automatic weapons to man checkpoints, take control of the TV stations and enforce martial law

Presumably you are talking about the way TRT/Thaksin were running the country last year ?

In which case, add bribing minor-parties to take part in the election, to give it the appearance of legitimacy, to the list.

[billzant]

My apologies for being incorrect about the US monitoring, I just assumed there was no-one monitoring with all the irregularities and dispute over the result. With a member of the EU holding a Thai citizen wanted for extradition and that Thai citizen hiding behind the electoral process, why should Thailand invite monitors from countries with such bias? Perhaps for accountability non-European monitors could be invited from the UN?

[sriracha john]

From the main thread on this topic:

EU can observe the election

[Prakanong]

My apologies for being incorrect about the US monitoring, I just assumed there was no-one monitoring with all the irregularities and dispute over the result. With a member of the EU holding a Thai citizen wanted for extradition and that Thai citizen hiding behind the electoral process, why should Thailand invite monitors from countries with such bias? Perhaps for accountability non-European monitors could be invited from the UN?

EU country holding a Thai citizen wanted for extradition - just when has Thailand requested extradition?

We would not send him back anyway - not under the present regime or when there is a chance of him not being given a fair trial or not safe.

The UK also refused to extradite th guy wanted for something to do with the 97 crash.

[bingobongo]

new thai massage invented.....enjoy

Last weekend there was a big referendum vote in Thailand. It passed, but no one is that thrilled about it _ no one except the ruling junta.

Edited August 30, 2007 by bingobongo