Court ruling on Feb 2 poll attracts criticism

[webfact]

Court ruling on Feb 2 poll attracts criticism
Pravit Rojanaphruk,
Khanittha Thepphajorn
The Nation

Critics say Charter allows voting to be held on different date if House not full

BANGKOK: - The Constitutional Court ruled 6:3 to invalidate the February 2 election yesterday, citing the failure to hold elections at all constituencies on the same day as the reason.

In its two-paragraph written ruling distributed after noon, the court said the royal decree for the snap election was to be nullified along with the election itself as 28 constituencies were not able to hold polls on February 2 because there were no candidates.

The election, the court concluded, thus violated Paragraph 2 of Article 108 of the charter.

The petition asking the court to nullify the election was forwarded by the Ombudsman on behalf of Thammasat University lecturer Kittipong Kamolthamwong.

As a result of the ruling, the court said there was no need to consider the petition by the Election Commission (EC) on whether another Royal Decree was needed to hold by-elections in the 28 constituencies.

The minority judges were Chut Chonlavorn, Udomsak Nitimontree and Chalermpon Akeuru, court secretary-general Pimol Thampitak-pong said.

Point of contention

Independent law academic Verapat Pariyawong said the court had overruled the Constitution, as the charter allowed for elections to be staged at a later date if all the seats in the House of Representatives were not occupied.

The charter stated that if 95 per cent of all House seats were occupied, members could convene. It requires the seats to be fully occupied within 180 days.

There are 500 House of Representative constituencies.

"In my view, the Constitutional Court has ruled in a way that is against the Constitution both in terms of the content and the process," Verapat said.

"However, the court did not bring the cause of the [problems related to] the election in the 28 constituencies, the obstruction of the election, into consideration.

"That was because the court had said earlier that the PDRC [the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee] rallies were a constitutional right."

Chulalongkorn University political scientist Trakoon Meechai said it was not the duty of the Constitutional Court to point fingers at who did wrong.

He said he expected protests by people who disagreed with the ruling.

However, political parties, the government and the EC must discuss the issues including all related factors.

They must bear in mind that the solution must not bring about political confrontation, he said.


-- The Nation 2014-03-22

[thesetat2013]

No matter what the courts decided they would have parties disagreeing with them. A lose lose situation.

Being that they followed the constitution by the letter without regard to circumstances shows impartiality. Circumstances should never be a viable excuse to go against the law.

Unfortunately Jatuporn and his Red Brigade don't see it this way and feel exceptions should be allowed as long as they favor the PTP party.

If it had been ruled a legal election the UDD and PTP would be screaming foul if the results showed they didnt win.

The judges had better start watching their backs now as the crazies are converging again for something big.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[focus27]

To all those who wish to cheer this judgment, remember that the vote was 6:3 so there are 3 Constitutional Court judges who disagree with this ruling.

The ruling as it stands can easily be challenged.

[Somtamnication]

Will this ever end? No one agrees with ANYTHING!! How can this constitution be mis-read by 70 million Thais?

[noitom]

This is called hijacking the elected government. Leave it to the Thais.

[chainarong]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

Edited March 22, 2014 by chainarong

[ThailandNoob]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

How can a reform panel be independent if it is lead by General Prayuth??? This is someone who played a key role in the 2010 crackdown and the 2006 coup (and has been threatening to do it all over again). He is nothing but a yellow pawn.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[smutcakes]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

After this ruling elections are pointless, all any dissenting group has to do is shut a few voting booths and the election will be nullified.

Simplistically say the Democrats start gaining much popularity and decide to participate in an election, all any of the opposition who think they are going to lose have to do is prevent voting in a few areas and it will be void.

It is complete madness, and regardless of your political preference, anyone must be able to see the crazy precedent this ruling sets.

[ThailandNoob]

If the court wants to rule that the election was invalid because it wasn't held across the country on the same day, then that is one thing. But how is this consistent with the ruling that the protests were "not attempting to overthrow democratic government".

Presumably, the same thing can happen to the 2nd election (or the 3rd, or the 10th), and Thailand can continue on this merry go round forever, or until the wheels fall off and the country collapses into civil war.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[smedly]

The point here is that a full election was not performed on the same polling day so the election actually failed, whether the house could not be filled is nothing to do with the argument

The EC advised the government to wait but no they went ahead and did it anyway - it was a failed election attempt - simple

[smutcakes]

The point here is that a full election was not performed on the same polling day so the election actually failed, whether the house could not be filled is nothing to do with the argument

The EC advised the government to wait but no they went ahead and did it anyway - it was a failed election attempt - simple

Sure as eggs are eggs if they did delay, the Democrats and PDRC would have filed charges to the whole party for lese majeste for not carrying out the election within 60 days as per the Royal decree!

[smedly]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

After this ruling elections are pointless, all any dissenting group has to do is shut a few voting booths and the election will be nullified.

Simplistically say the Democrats start gaining much popularity and decide to participate in an election, all any of the opposition who think they are going to lose have to do is prevent voting in a few areas and it will be void.

It is complete madness, and regardless of your political preference, anyone must be able to see the crazy precedent this ruling sets.

well all those concerned have to do is convince all the Thai people that the whole country is ready for an election and then it can proceed - right now a fairly high proportion of the people are saying no and my guess is that is well above 50%, maybe they should have a referendum asking all the people if they are ready for an election at this time

[smutcakes]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

After this ruling elections are pointless, all any dissenting group has to do is shut a few voting booths and the election will be nullified.

Simplistically say the Democrats start gaining much popularity and decide to participate in an election, all any of the opposition who think they are going to lose have to do is prevent voting in a few areas and it will be void.

It is complete madness, and regardless of your political preference, anyone must be able to see the crazy precedent this ruling sets.

well all those concerned have to do is convince all the Thai people that the whole country is ready for an election and then it can proceed - right now a fairly high proportion of the people are saying no and my guess is that is well above 50%, maybe they should have a referendum asking all the people if they are ready for an election at this time

Who would run a referendum on it? The only numbers that count and are verified are those in an election, unfortunately your guess is exactly that a guess.

If you are correct, i fail to see where a referendum would get us when the fighting parties cannot even name 10 neutral candidates between them. Okay the people are not ready for an election, then what?

[englishoak]

If the court wants to rule that the election was invalid because it wasn't held across the country on the same day, then that is one thing. But how is this consistent with the ruling that the protests were "not attempting to overthrow democratic government".

Presumably, the same thing can happen to the 2nd election (or the 3rd, or the 10th), and Thailand can continue on this merry go round forever, or until the wheels fall off and the country collapses into civil war.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

No, the courts can next time rule differently even if the scenario is exactly the same, there is no precedence on rulings in Thai law that future rulings have to follow. Every time it must be ruled on anew, if the court decides to not take previous rulings as a guide into account next time they can simply rule it is acceptable even if the next election is as troublesome in exactly the same way as this last one... they can do as they wish each and every time .. today nullified same scenario next time, upheld .. and so on. It is all down to who is in that court on that day, each and every time. Get a judge in a bad mood or that has sympathy with a case it can make all the difference no matter the ruling last time.

Great for consistency and faith in the system eh ?

[Rich teacher]

Fairly simple business model they have demonstrated. Easily replicated by all other hopeless political parties who fail to impress in the electoral process;

Step 1;

Pay a few old ladies to block the gates of polling booths

Step 2:

Get a few loonies to assault innocent people who just want to exercise their right to vote

Step 3:

Employ a few 300 Baht hired guns

Edited March 22, 2014 by Rich teacher

[Spalpeen]

So six men have told 20,000,000 men and women that they were taking part in an unconstitutional act when they went out to vote. It will take a while to sort out but with odds of 20,000,000 to 6 this can only end one way.

[thesetat2013]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

How can a reform panel be independent if it is lead by General Prayuth??? This is someone who played a key role in the 2010 crackdown and the 2006 coup (and has been threatening to do it all over again). He is nothing but a yellow pawn.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Get your facts straight. If anything the general has dismissed the idea of a coup. At the most he has not ruled it out and i believe this was only said to deter the reds from acting crazy with fire in the hands and blood in their eyes

Prayuth could have done a coup at any time yet has shown reserve and from his actions has shown to be unbiased and upholding the RTA vows to protect the country, the people, and the monarchy. Your claims that he is a yellow pawn is extremely biased and unfounded which leads me to believe you are seeing RED and not seeing clearly.

Prayuth has been protecting Sutheps protesters because they have been the center of almost all of the attacks. Prayuth has spoken out against your Reds only when they posed a clear and present danger to this country with their talk of taking arms and seceeding from thailand.

So before you start spouting your red propaganda look at the facts and the logic prayutha had used.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[somo]

The court has given power to anyone with a few guns to block the whole election process which international bodies have agreed is fair despite some vote buying by both sides.
It is a big blow to Thai democracy. If this decision stands it is unlikely that future elections will be upheld and Thailand could be leaderless for a long time.
This is just another excuse for changing the electoral process so that it favours a different group which hasn't been able to command the peoples support for the past 15 years or more. A sad day for Thais but I am sure they will keep smiling

[zydeco]

So six men have told 20,000,000 men and women that they were taking part in an unconstitutional act when they went out to vote. It will take a while to sort out but with odds of 20,000,000 to 6 this can only end one way.

In the US, it only takes five people to overturn the direct electoral wishes of 120-130 million voters. And when it happens, nobody picks up a gun, threatens to secede,or form a 1 million man militia that attempts bombings, arson, assassination, and murder.

[Tatsujin]

To all those who wish to cheer this judgment, remember that the vote was 6:3 so there are 3 Constitutional Court judges who disagree with this ruling.

The ruling as it stands can easily be challenged.

but, but, but . . . they had a majority!!!!!

[Bakseeda]

The point here is that a full election was not performed on the same polling day so the election actually failed, whether the house could not be filled is nothing to do with the argument

The EC advised the government to wait but no they went ahead and did it anyway - it was a failed election attempt - simple

Sure as eggs are eggs if they did delay, the Democrats and PDRC would have filed charges to the whole party for lese majeste for not carrying out the election within 60 days as per the Royal decree!

Sure as eggs are eggs.... Wow... is this a Thai phrase.... seems then that PTP kept all their eggs in the one basket...

[Bakseeda]

The point here is that a full election was not performed on the same polling day so the election actually failed, whether the house could not be filled is nothing to do with the argument

The EC advised the government to wait but no they went ahead and did it anyway - it was a failed election attempt - simple

Sure as eggs are eggs if they did delay, the Democrats and PDRC would have filed charges to the whole party for lese majeste for not carrying out the election within 60 days as per the Royal decree!

Sure as eggs are eggs.... Wow... is this a Thai phrase.... seems then that PTP kept all their eggs in the one basket...

[Now or Never]

The SNAP election was a PTP scam to enable them to stay in power after all their illegal & fraudulent scams were being exposed and bringing the government down.

The SNAP election scam failed.

[Ricardo]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

After this ruling elections are pointless, all any dissenting group has to do is shut a few voting booths and the election will be nullified.

Simplistically say the Democrats start gaining much popularity and decide to participate in an election, all any of the opposition who think they are going to lose have to do is prevent voting in a few areas and it will be void.

It is complete madness, and regardless of your political preference, anyone must be able to see the crazy precedent this ruling sets.

I'd suggest that the dissenting group needs to shut more-than-a-few voting-booths, in order to block at-least 95% of MPs being properly/legally elected, and a quorum being achieved.

[ZuluTango70]

I have been reading Thai VIsa Forum for about 5 years but never signed up. I have been reading a lot more lately and decided to sign up. I can sit on a bean bag with a pot of good coffee and read all the the posts all day long getting entertained and not finish all of them. I wonder where do people get time to be on this all day long commenting back and forth .

[rickirs]

The Constitutional Court claims its is following the literal language of the constitution without regard to circumstances causing the delay in elections. As such some would claim that the Court shows impartiality to all political parties.

But its ruling also shows the Court's inability to even follow the literal language of the Constitution. Isn't that ironic? The Thai Constitution requires the election of a new government to occur within 60 days of the dissolution of the parliament and formation of the interim government. The interim government was created in October 2013. Even Suthep argued last year that any election held beyond November 2013 was unconstitutional but now the Court is allowing a new election to take place. If the Constitution is the predecent for the Constitutional Court's decisions, it should also rule that no further elections can take place unless the Constitution is amended. And that process can only be performed by the interim govenment under the Constitution - irony within ironies.

If the Court shows impartiality to all political parties, it is by its failure of a decision to fit any legal reality and prevents all the political parties to continue to operate within a democratic framework. Who wants that kind of impartiality? Following previous Constitutional challenges, because the Court has failed to deliberately and knowingly comply with ALL the provisions the Constitution, it has violated the Constitution and should remove itself for dereliction of duty. Thailand's current political conflict might be better resolved without the Constitutional Court.

[Stan7444]

To all those who wish to cheer this judgment, remember that the vote was 6:3 so there are 3 Constitutional Court judges who disagree with this ruling.

The ruling as it stands can easily be challenged.

Why does not The Nation brilliant reporters write about the reasons as to why the 3 dissenting judges voted the way they did?

[Gweiloman]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

How can a reform panel be independent if it is lead by General Prayuth??? This is someone who played a key role in the 2010 crackdown and the 2006 coup (and has been threatening to do it all over again). He is nothing but a yellow pawn.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Get your facts straight. If anything the general has dismissed the idea of a coup. At the most he has not ruled it out and i believe this was only said to deter the reds from acting crazy with fire in the hands and blood in their eyes

Prayuth could have done a coup at any time yet has shown reserve and from his actions has shown to be unbiased and upholding the RTA vows to protect the country, the people, and the monarchy. Your claims that he is a yellow pawn is extremely biased and unfounded which leads me to believe you are seeing RED and not seeing clearly.

Prayuth has been protecting Sutheps protesters because they have been the center of almost all of the attacks. Prayuth has spoken out against your Reds only when they posed a clear and present danger to this country with their talk of taking arms and seceeding from thailand.

So before you start spouting your red propaganda look at the facts and the logic prayutha had used.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

"Prayuth has spoken out against your Reds only when they posed a clear and present danger to this country with their talk of taking arms and seceeding from thailand"

Don't you think that Suthep / PDRC now poses a clear and present danger to this country with their talk of blocking elections, in spite of it being a constitutional right of the people? His demands for reforms before elections, appointed people's council bla bla are at best a pipe dream and will never happen. He and his supporters are now very clearly standing in the way of economic and political progress for Thailand and the repercussions of their continuing actions will haunt Thailand for a very long time.

[Gweiloman]

Regardless of the out come, how about concentrating on the issue , how/when are you going to hold elections, how are you going to prevent the winners of that election to completely monopolise the reform panel , the way forward would be to let the elected government run the country ,( err yeah), and a independent reform panel , with no politicians , no government Department heads , no party hacks, lead by no other than General Prayuth and manned by respected people from the community, then a general review , then a people's vote, two years duration. That's a start, u can fill in the details , I am tired of the whole BS.

After this ruling elections are pointless, all any dissenting group has to do is shut a few voting booths and the election will be nullified.

Simplistically say the Democrats start gaining much popularity and decide to participate in an election, all any of the opposition who think they are going to lose have to do is prevent voting in a few areas and it will be void.

It is complete madness, and regardless of your political preference, anyone must be able to see the crazy precedent this ruling sets.

well all those concerned have to do is convince all the Thai people that the whole country is ready for an election and then it can proceed - right now a fairly high proportion of the people are saying no and my guess is that is well above 50%, maybe they should have a referendum asking all the people if they are ready for an election at this time

Referendum asking the people? Who wants to bet that this will be blocked too?

[Gweiloman]

No matter what the courts decided they would have parties disagreeing with them. A lose lose situation.

Being that they followed the constitution by the letter without regard to circumstances shows impartiality. Circumstances should never be a viable excuse to go against the law.

Unfortunately Jatuporn and his Red Brigade don't see it this way and feel exceptions should be allowed as long as they favor the PTP party.

If it had been ruled a legal election the UDD and PTP would be screaming foul if the results showed they didnt win.

The judges had better start watching their backs now as the crazies are converging again for something big.

Sent from my GT-S5310 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

"If it had been ruled a legal election the UDD and PTP would be screaming foul if the results showed they didnt win"

Wow, that's really overreaching. How can they not win when for all intents and purposes, there was no competition? And there was no competition purely because the opposition conceded a walkover, knowing full well that they could not win at the ballot box.