Election Commission buying time: Pheu Thai

The Nation 01/02/2010

Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit called on the public yesterday to judge whether Election Commission chairman Apichart Sukhagganond should continue in his post after "choosing to buy time" and postpone a decision on whether the Democratic Party should be dissolved over donations charges. Prompong said Apichart had said he could not make a decision during February, even though the EC and the Department of Special Investigation had taken almost a year investigating allegations the Democrat Party illegally accepted Bt258 million in donations from TPI Polene.

"Apichart can no longer cite time constraints and keep deferring the decision as he has been doing every month, because it shows his intention to prolong the case and wait for the right timing before giving the same recommendation he had earlier suggested - that the case be dropped,'' he said.

"We are not going to make any demands on Apichart but we want society to see his true colours and real self - and to judge whether he carries out his duty with objectivity and justice, comparing the party dissolution case with the People Power Party, Chart Thai Party and Matchima Thipataya Party [cases]. Thai society should decide on whether Apichart should continue in his post and receive taxpayers' money as his salary,'' he said.

Thepthai Senpong, a personal spokesman of the Democrat Party leader, defended Apichart saying the EC chairman postponed the decision because of additional evidence and he needed to ensure fairness to all parties.

"Pheu Thai's accusation that Apichart is buying time is politically motivated. They have been making false accusations of double standards against the EC. They have been plotting a rally outside the EC office.

"The EC, however, should not feel intimidated. If the Democrat Party is wrong, then so be it, otherwise the case should be dropped,'' he said.

He said Pheu Thai had made a claim the Democrats would not be dissolved because the party belongs to the bureaucratic polity; the Opposition party wants to link its movements to bring down the institution with the Democrat Party - even though it was not true. "We have belonged to the people for the 63 years since we were founded."