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109 Thai Constituencies Face New Polls
As many as 109 of the 400 constituencies in Thailand are likely to be required to hold re-votes on January 29, since it is possible that all 113 candidates summoned by the Election Commission (EC) for questioning over suspected poll fraud will be either disqualified or issued a warning.
Four of the 113 targeted candidates failed to get elected, so re-elections will not be staged in their constituencies, an unnamed EC official was quoted as saying by The Nation newspaper Monday.
Of those summoned by the EC, 14 are likely to be disqualified and 99 others, all of them unofficial election winners, are expected to get "yellow cards," or warnings, which would allow them to run in the second round of voting.
The EC is due Monday to announce official results for the remaining 291 constituencies and the 100-seat party-list election, according to Election Commissioner Yuwarat Kamolvej.
The commission will also submit a list of disqualified candidates to the Council of State for scrutiny.
Police meanwhile will be placed on full alert Monday for possible violent protests in front of the EC's headquarters after the official election results are announced.
After meeting EC secretary-general Vijit Yusuparb, Metropolitan Police chief Anan Piromkaew said that crowd-control units and police commandos would be dispatched to the office in addition to regular units.
Thailand held the general election on January 6, the first held under the reformist 1997 Constitution, which aims to clear out corruption and vote-buying, a common practice in previous elections. Under the Constitution, the EC has the power to disqualify dishonest candidates, and call a re-voting in the constituencies.
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