EC: It's difficult to predict outcome of April 22 meeting

BANGKOK, 15 April 2014 (NNT) – The Election Commission (EC) says it is difficult to predict the outcome of the meeting scheduled for April 22, when it will meet representatives from 70 political parties.

EC chairman Supachai Somcharoen said it was impossible to predict what conclusions would be drawn, as the agency would have to take heed of the opinions of the political party representatives as well as the private sector.

As for the request by the Democrats Party to have the meeting televised live, the chairman said the EC had no authority to do so. He, however, said he was willing to discuss the issue.

Mr. Supachai also asserted that the EC would listen to all sides carefully in order to decide which would be the best and most appropriate date for the general election, claiming that having a caretaker government for an extended period of time would not be beneficial to the country.

The Election Commission last week met with military top brass and other security-related agencies to discuss the election issue. The meeting agreed that it was very unlikely that a general election could be held within 60 days, given the current political turmoil in the country, but admitted that an election was the only solution to the ongoing conflict.

-- NNT 2014-04-15

Democrat urges Pheu Thai to attend meeting with EC

BANGKOK, 15 April 2014, (NNT) - The Democrat Party has urged the Pheu Thai Party to send one of its executives to attend a meeting with the Election Commission on April 22nd to discuss a date of a fresh election.

The announcement was made yesterday by the Democrat Party Spokesperson Chawanont Intrakomulsut, who accused the ruling Pheu Thai Party of causing rifts among Thais by taking no action against those committing lese majeste offenses, ignoring the judicial system and corruption cases, and manipulating the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship ( the Redshirt) to intimidate anyone who opposes the government.

The spokesperson urged the EC meeting to find a solution to preventing the Pheu Thai party from repeating the alleged offenses should it return to power after the election.

According to the Spokesperson, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva will attend the meeting. He also suggested that the April 22nd meeting be broadcast live for public viewing.


-- NNT 2014-04-15

No election is needed, as it is unsafe to do so right now.

Just appoint great leaders like: Suthep, Prem, Anan, etc,

Did I read correctly....70 political parties? I guess I'll be urging my wife to vote for the "More Chili with my Somtam" Party, or maybe the "Don't Talk About That" Party.

If Yingluck doesn't attend, it is hoped that a representative of Pheu Thai will. After all, they want an election, and this meeting that invites all political parties is being proposed to that end. It is hoped that there will be a consensus among the parties that the meeting be televised, as it allows the public to see exactly how these politicians behave. If they're smart, they'll act with dignity. Those who do so with grace will have distinct electoral advantages. Transparency means transparency. The more of it, the better. Televised is better than a closed-door meeting.

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If Yingluck doesn't attend, it is hoped that a representative of Pheu Thai will. After all, they want an election, and this meeting that invites all political parties is being proposed to that end. It is hoped that there will be a consensus among the parties that the meeting be televised, as it allows the public to see exactly how these politicians behave. If they're smart, they'll act with dignity. Those who do so with grace will have distinct electoral advantages. Transparency means transparency. The more of it, the better. Televised is better than a closed-door meeting.

What's the bet the PTP wont agree to a TV broadcast , Scamper

PTP are too busy doing nothing to attend any meeting that wasn't called by themselves.

I'm sure they will be sulking at home when the 69 other parties agree to an interim government first

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

The whole meeting must be televised in order to let the public see and hopefully come to understand what stance those politicians and the parties involved are taking and why.

The televising of the proceedings should hopefully limit the amount of pressure being applied to the E.C. and all involved would be publicly accountable for their comments and actions during and after the meeting and subsequently after any final decision is or was to be reached.

A public meeting would of course be somewhat distasteful to some of the politicians along with the assorted political elements here but it might just be one small step forward to enlighten the electorate at large as to the real aims and motives of all those political parties and the politicians along with hopefully making a step forward to solve the current impasse.

Let's get the whole matter out into the open.It is time to start anew and the politicians have to be taught that they are the nations and the public's servants not the other way around.

Edited April 15, 201412 yr by siampolee

Did I read correctly....70 political parties? I guess I'll be urging my wife to vote for the "More Chili with my Somtam" Party, or maybe the "Don't Talk About That" Party.

More fruits and nuts than a bar of Cadbury's

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If Yingluck doesn't attend, it is hoped that a representative of Pheu Thai will. After all, they want an election, and this meeting that invites all political parties is being proposed to that end. It is hoped that there will be a consensus among the parties that the meeting be televised, as it allows the public to see exactly how these politicians behave. If they're smart, they'll act with dignity. Those who do so with grace will have distinct electoral advantages. Transparency means transparency. The more of it, the better. Televised is better than a closed-door meeting.

What's the bet the PTP wont agree to a TV broadcast , Scamper

No dount it would be broadcasted over Blue Sky Channel who would benefit by charging premium prices for advertising during the broadcast and Suthep/PDRC who would get a cut of the proceeds. But that wouldn't be corruption, just good business. There is a public broadcast channel however, wonder if Suthep would allow it? You know the one that he shutdown during the 2010 PTP protests.

There are just too many political parties in Thailand. Compare with Indonesia which has more than 40 parties some 20+ years ago but only have about a dozen now. Smaller parties join up to have better resources and attract better members. Or Malaysia where smaller parties join a more dominant national party like the Barision National and present the same platform in an election. Here in Thailand, the parties are framented and could not attract better quality politicians as they are small in name and resources and become prey to dominant parties.

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Did I read correctly....70 political parties? I guess I'll be urging my wife to vote for the "More Chili with my Somtam" Party, or maybe the "Don't Talk About That" Party.

Yes, 70 political parties. Many of them are typically single issue parties but seek election to parliament to get a vote in legislative actions whose benefits could be directed towards their constituents.

This is why the Constitutional Court's ruling to nullify the Feb. 2, 2014 election was so wrong in that it has created an unnecessary financial burden on these small parties to again have to repeat campaigning their candidates for election. That increased burden may cause some parties not to be able participate in a repeat election.

Of course there was no additional burden on the Democrat Party as it didn't participate in the election; thus, it gained an unfair financial advantage over the PTP should the Democrats choose to participate in the repeat election. All 70 parties should have sued the Democrats for the nullification of the election to recoup their campaign and election costs.

Thats easy. 69 will want elections now. Democrats will walk out. EC will not hold elections.

"The meeting agreed that it was very unlikely that a general election could be held within 60 days, given the current political turmoil in the country, but admitted that an election was the only solution to the ongoing conflict."

So just to recap, they won't permit elections because of the political turmoil, which elections would fix. Circular reasoning.

And they won't run them within 60 days, because, well they're rogue and want to make it totally clear they don't think the Constitutional limit applies now, so they're free to delay as long as they want.

So rogue EC, that doesn't plan to run elections, who do you think you're fooling?

A good summary of the current EC is here:

http://asiancorrespondent.com/118143/thailands-election-commission-reluctant-to-hold-february-2-poll/

Edited April 15, 201412 yr by BlueNoseCodger

Lets see now, 70 political parties at 500/voter thats 35k THB.

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If Yingluck doesn't attend, it is hoped that a representative of Pheu Thai will. After all, they want an election, and this meeting that invites all political parties is being proposed to that end. It is hoped that there will be a consensus among the parties that the meeting be televised, as it allows the public to see exactly how these politicians behave. If they're smart, they'll act with dignity. Those who do so with grace will have distinct electoral advantages. Transparency means transparency. The more of it, the better. Televised is better than a closed-door meeting.

What's the bet the PTP wont agree to a TV broadcast , Scamper

I believe that I read somewhere that they had no objections. This is good, as the people can see the reality of what Pheu Thai stand for and their political ignorance should shine on through for all to see!!