EC chairman says Bhumjaithai probe will take time, unlike Move Forward
The Election Commission (EC) chairman dismissed claims the commission was dragging its feet over the Bhumjaithai Party when it was so quick to act against the Move Forward Party.
EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong said on Wednesday that the cases against the two parties were based on different provisions in the Political Parties Act, so their timings cannot be compared.
He explained that the case against Bhumjaithai was based on Article 93 of the Political Parties Act, while the one against Move Forward was based on Article 92.
Shortly after the Constitutional Court ruled that Move Forward and its former leader Pita Limjaroenrat had violated the charter by seeking to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code or the draconian lese majeste law, the EC voted to seek the party’s dissolution.
However, the commission has not yet sought Bhumjaithai’s dissolution even though the Constitutional Court ruled against its former secretary-general Saksayam Chidchob several months ago.
Bhumjaithai Party is a partner in the ruling coalition.
On January 17, the Constitutional Court found that Saksayam had concealed his shares and ownership of Burijarearn Construction Limited Partnership in Buri Ram province.
It was later found that Burijarern had donated money to Bhumjaithai, and critics raised an uproar, calling on the EC to dissolve the party.
Though the EC has claimed no formal petition had been submitted against Bhumjaithai after the ruling against Saksayam, ex-MP Chuwit Kamolvisit had last year submitted a complaint calling on the EC to check if Bhumjaithai had unlawfully received donations from Saksayam's nominees.
A source from the EC had said earlier that since there was no formal complaint against Bhumjaithai, it had to invoke Article 93 of the Political Parties Act to initiate a probe on its own. As for Move Forward, the source said, a petition had been filed so the EC could invoke Article 92 to seek its dissolution.
On Wednesday, Ittiporn said the EC secretary-general, who is ex-officio political party registrar, is in the process of gathering facts and evidence in the Bhumjaithai case.
“These cases are different. In Bhumjaithai’s case, the issue involves money and the lawsuit must be filed under the provisions of Article 93,” Ittiporn said.
On March 20, EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said the EC cannot decide on its own whether the donations given to Bhumjaithai were unlawful or not, and it needed a court’s ruling on the matter.
He said the EC needed to first establish whether the donations were illegal before it could seek Bhumjaithai’s dissolution.
Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party, was dissolved and its executives banned from politics for 10 years because it had accepted 191.3 million baht from the party’s leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
