Politicians warned not to involve Army to sway votes

By Panya Thiewsangwan

The Nation

Soldiers have the right to vote for whom they please, Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday, dismissing allegations that military personnel were under a standing order only to vote for the Democrat Party.

"I don't want to quarrel with the 'boy who cried wolf', and please don't underestimate soldiers' intelligence," he said, referring to Pheu Thai candidate Natthawut Saikua's comments attacking the military.

Prayuth said politicians should not try to involve the military in their election campaigns and that the military would not dictate how soldiers voted.

Conscripted soldiers will be told to take part in advance balloting as absentee voters because they cannot return to their home towns to cast their votes, he said. Advance balloting is sanctioned by the Constitution and soldiers are obliged to vote like civilians, he said, adding that the military had no partisan interests in rigging the outcome one way or another.

He said politicians had no justification in politicising the military, arguing that the Armed Forces could not do their job in the face of political meddling. Instead, he said, the parties concerned should look back at what happened in 2009 and 2010 before coming to a hasty conclusion about the military's role, adding that he had something to say about the 91 deaths during last year's bloody crackdown.

In a veiled reminder to the red shirts, he said the bloodshed would not have happened if all sides had upheld the rule of law, and the instigators of last year's riots should remember that the tables could turn and their opponents could descend on the streets to try to grab power.

"I repeat: Don't involve the military in your quarrels," he warned.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the Defence Council - the governing body of the armed forces - had a firm policy of non-partisanship. He also warned politicians against involving the military in their campaigns to sway votes.

"Political parties should focus on their campaign platforms instead of smearing the military," he said.

The Armed Forces are a national institution that should not be drawn into the partisan struggle for power, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-04

My hand is not in the cookie jar - it never was and never will be - now get out of the kitchen.

Edited June 5, 201115 yr by angmo