PAD urges EC to hold a fresh election

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BANGKOK, 11 July 2011  – The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has handed a letter to the Election Commission (EC), calling for the cancellation of the election results and the arrangement of a new poll after finding numerous irregularities. 

As the EC is expected to certify elected MPs tomorrow, the PAD core leaders Chamlong Srimuang and Panthep Puapongpan have submitted their request with the commission for the suspension of the endorsement process. The duo also demanded that a new general election be held, claiming that a large number of frauds and irregularities had been discovered in the 3 July election.

Four main issues were cited as the reasons for the election results to be nullified. They consist of the absence of over 2 million voters’ names from the roster, the discrepancy between the numbers of party-list and constituency ballots by over 80,000 pieces, political parties’ promises to hand out things to their supporters and the involvement of banned politicians in the operations of certain parties.

The PAD core leaders believed the four suspicious points were in violation of the electoral law and should be sufficient to convince the EC to organize a fresh poll for more transparency and fairness. However, if the EC insists on endorsing the previous election results, a motion will be filed with the Supreme Court’s Election Division and the Criminal Court against the commission for neglect of duty.