EC looking into collusion charges ahead of national level voting
Sawang said EC investigators will check out the accusations but national level voting for senators will go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday
The Election Commission (EC) said it is investigating allegations that certain senatorial candidates are planning to collude in voting during the national-level election on Wednesday.
However, Sawang Boonmee, secretary-general of the EC Office, said on Monday that the suspicion and ongoing investigation will not delay the announcement of the election results on July 2.
He said the EC Office had learned of the alleged collusion attempt from tip-offs, rumours and complaints, and has assigned election inspectors to look into the case.
“The investigators will check and assess the information obtained so the collusion can be prevented and arrests made,” Sawang said.
He added that the investigative teams would seek help from the police intelligence agency as well, and investigation will be conducted before the final round of election on Wednesday.
The senatorial election is being held in three levels, two of which have been completed. The district level voting was held on June 9 and provincial level on June 16, with the national level to be held on Wednesday.
Sawang said the EC will also look into reports that some candidates and politicians have booked hotel rooms near the voting venue, so they can lobby for votes. The voting is being held at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi.
He added that the EC Office had received some 330 complaints of alleged fraud in the senatorial election and over 200 of them were about the qualifications of certain candidates.
He said the EC has made a decision on some of the complaints, while the rest would be reviewed before Wednesday. He added that some 90 complaints about electoral cheating have been set aside for now, as investigating them would take longer.
Sawang said there is a possibility that certain politicians were involved in lobbying for candidates, but it was difficult to investigate this if the candidates refused to testify against the politicians.
He also called on disgruntled candidates, who had failed in previous rounds, to not disrupt the final round, but to file complaints directly with the EC Office.
He said he would do his best to stop the election process from getting bogged down with problems, so the 200 new senators could be announced as scheduled on July 2.
