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Uncertainty over Thai re-poll

P. S. Suryanarayana

Apex courts reject October 22 date for holding elections

SINGAPORE: Efforts to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Thailand have run into a new phase of uncertainty over the timing of a fresh general election. The Election Commission on Monday recommended that the new poll be held on October 22. But the move remained a non-starter, with the poll panel's legitimacy being called into question on Tuesday.

The panel's reconstitution is still pending, despite some judicial directions in this regard. The Election Commission's recommendation for a new poll-decree was a sequel to the recent judgment by the Constitutional Court that the April 2 snap general election was null and void.

King's directive

At a higher level, King Adulyadej Bhumibol, Thailand's revered monarch, had asked the authorities to put the country back on course in the context of the passions that divided the people before as also during and after the April 2 poll.

The April poll was called by the then Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, in a bid to ride out a crisis over charges that he had abused authority and manipulated the laws so that his family could make tax-free gains through the sale of a mega firm, which he himself had founded before entering politics.

Mr. Thaksin resigned following his Thai Rak Thai party's apparent victory in the April poll. His resignation was forced upon him by the massive protest vote. No new Parliament could also be formed, as the electoral process itself remained incomplete.

In the end, at least 14 seats were not filled even through mandatory by-elections under a complex electoral system, which does not brook such vacancies at the time a new legislative house is created. A key reason cited by the Court for nullifying the April 2 poll was that the principle of secret balloting was compromised.

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