Two leading activists yesterday launched separate legal proceedings aimed at invalidating the July 3 vote outcome on grounds of unfairness due to the lapse of supervision by the Election Commission.
n the first case, People's Alliance for Democracy leader Chamlong Srimuang petitioned the Supreme Court's Elections Division to cancel the balloting outcome and order a revote.
The high court has scheduled next Wednesday to rule whether the case merits a judicial review.
In his petition, Chamlong contends he was among almost 2 million voters who had their balloting rights wrongfully denied by the EC.
Along with the other 2 million, Chamlong was an absentee voter registered to cast an advance vote outside a designated polling station in the 2007 general election. He registered to vote at a Kanchanaburi polling station in lieu of his constituency in Bangkok's Dusit district.
The EC invoked Articles 97 and 101 of the Elections Act to back its ruling that absentee voters could not automatically switch to balloting at their designated polling station unless they had cancelled their previous voting registration.
Chamlong said such a ruling was unconstitutional and impractical. Furthermore the EC had on Tuesday wrongfully endorsed the votes for 358 of 500 MPs-elect despite his Monday's petition for a probe into the unfairness inflicted on the two million voters, he added.
As complainant, he asked for the high court's intervention so as to allow the two million voters to exercise their rightful duty of balloting.
For the second case, PAD ally Chaiwat Sinsuwong lodged a petition calling for the impeachment of the five EC members.
Chaiwat notified Senate Speaker Teeradej Meepien of his intent to launch a signature campaign to solicit the support of 20,000 voters to activate the impeachment proceedings against the five. The campaign is expected to be complete in 180 days.
In justifying his signature campaign, Chaiwat said the EC had deliberately neglected to keep barred party executives out of the campaigning. He said the barred party executives acted as if they held the real power behind parties and candidates despite their removal from the electoral process.
He said the EC failed to do its job in the face of several campaign promises designed as a vote-buying ploy.
He went on to say that the EC wrongfully endorsed certain electoral candidates despite their previous records as instigators to disrupting peace.
In addition to impeachment, he called for the dissolution of six major parties for involving barred party executives in campaign activities.
He also singled out the Pheu Thai's lingkage to the red shirts as additional ground for disbandment. He claimed that prime minister-elect Yingluck Shinawatra was the financial backer of the red shirts.
The six are Pheu Thai, Democrat, Bhum Jai Thai, Chart Thai Pattana, Chart Pattana Puea Pandin and Palang Chon parties.
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