The general elections in Thailand are scheduled for 24 February 2019 but the military junta signaled the possible postponement of the poll to avoid overlap with the coronation ceremony for Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn which set on 04 to 06 May 2019.

// EPA-EFE PHOTO

// EPA-EFE PHOTO

// EPA-EFE PHOTO

The EC also ruled that three other ministers may have violated the charter and could be disqualified from their ministerial posts. They are Education Minister Teerakiat Charoensettasilp, Deputy Transport Minister Pirin Chuchotithavorn and former Deputy Education Minister ML Panadda Diskul.

The EC will submit the case to the Constitutional Court to make a final decision on whether their holding shares in concessions is a conflict of interest.

The case was submitted to the agency in February last year by Pheu Thai Party’s lawyer Ruangkrai Leekitwatana.

Deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, in charge of the government legal affairs, on Friday said the ministers may have to be suspended from work if it is ordered by the court.

They could opt to resign or take leave from their posts to show their spirit, Wissanu said. “Nobody could possibly stop them from that,” Wissanu said.

In August 2018, Yingluck used a Cambodian passport to register as the sole director of PT Corporation, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday. It cited corporate filings in the Hong Kong Companies Registry.

Mao Chandara, the director general of the identification department at Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, said they had not issued a passport to Yingluck.

“We don’t know whether it [the passport] is fake or not,” he told the Phnom Penh Post.

The ex-PM was suspected of using a foreign travel document when she left Thailand under mysterious circumstances a few days before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders was scheduled to read its verdict in a case against her.

Yingluck, 51, was later sentenced in absentia to five years’ in prison for criminal negligence, in connection with her government’s rice-pledging scheme.

She has since lived overseas, making headlines from time to time when appearing in public in countries like the UK, Japan, China and Singapore, along with her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yingluck returned to the limelight recently following media reports that she has become a legal representative and chairwoman of Shantou International Container Terminal in China.

Her name was added to the port company’s registration filed last month. Her appointment as chairwoman of the Guangdong-based port operator came four months after she set up PT Corporation.

But it remains unclear what business the company is involved in. Yingluck and Thaksin were in China over the weekend to visit their ancestral home in Guangdong.

A Bangkok-based company of the same name, PT Corporation, was listed as the Hong Kong firm’s founding member, the South China Morning Post reported. Thaksin’s daughters, Pinthongta, Kunakornwong and Paethongtarn Shinawatra, are major shareholders in the Thai firm, according to the newspaper.

In Hong Kong, Yingluck’s company registered its office at the same address as a firm, among whose directors is a Hong Kong businesswoman believed to be close to Yingluck.

The businesswoman is also managing director of a Singapore-listed property company, the Hong Kong paper reported. Yingluck registered her residential address as a luxurious house on The Peak, the highest hill in Hong Kong, that belonged to the businesswoman and her husband, according to corporate filings.

The clarification came yesterday after the prime minister met with the coronation committee to discuss the organisation of the royal coronation ceremony. Government House had previously suggested that the post-coronation phase of the ceremony has made a February 24 poll day no longer appropriate.

Wissanu said that the responsible committee will convene again on January 26 and he believed the election date could be announced before that.

“Let me just say that the election date will be announced this month and the election will be within March,” he said. “The Election Commission [EC] will determine the exact date.” According to the law, the EC must announce the voting day within five days of the Royal Decree on the election being published in the Royal Gazette.

However, Wissanu said the government was not in a position to say when the decree would be out.

It had yet to be endorsed by the King, he said. With mounting pressure and criticism, the deputy PM yesterday refused to say clearly that the election would not happen in February as previously promised.

“I don’t know. I don’t dare to say that,” Wissanu said. “But the media – you can draw your conclusions from what I told you.”

As the election date has not been finalised and public statements have suggested the possibility now ranges from March 10 to 24, a debate has emerged over whether the election would be unconstitutional if the EC failed to announce the results within 150 days of the electoral laws coming into effect. Wissanu yesterday clarified that the constitutional condition only covered the casting of ballots and not the announcement of results.

The results can be finalised 60 days after that and are independent of the constitutionally stated 150 days, according to the law, Wissanu confirmed. Wissanu also announced that May 4th will from next year be known as Coronation Day or “Wan Chatramongkol”.

The official coronation of His Majesty the King will take place on May 4 this year, he said. Details about the ceremony and the celebration will be discussed again on January 26 when Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, a sister of the King, heads the meeting at Government House, he added.

Wissanu said the ceremony would involve three major parts – the preparations starting from April, the ceremony from May 4 to 6, and the post-ceremony activities.

Yingluck used a Cambodian passport to register as the sole director of PT Corporation in August 2018, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, according to the South China Morning Post. It cited corporate filings in the Hong Kong Companies Registry.

The Cambodian government had claimed that it did not issue any travel papers to the ex-PM when she left Thailand under mysterious circumstances a few days before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders was scheduled to read its verdict in a case against her.

Yingluck, 51, was later sentenced in absentia to five years’ imprisonment for criminal negligence, in connection to her government’s corruption-plagued rice-pledging scheme.

She has lived in self-imposed exile overseas and made headlines from time to time when appearing in public in countries like the UK, Japan, China and Singapore, along with her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yingluck has returned to the limelight following media reports that she became a legal representative and chairwoman of Shantou International Container Terminal in China. Her name was added into the port company’s registration filed in December 2018.

Her appointment as chairwoman of the Guangdong-based port operator came four months after she set up the PT Corporation. But it remained unclear what business the company is involved in.

Yingluck and Thaksin were in China over the weekend to visit their ancestral home in Guangdong.

A Bangkok-based company with the exact same name, PT Corporation, was listed as the Hong Kong firm’s founding member, the South China Morning Post reported.

Thaksin’s daughters, Pinthongta, Kunakornwong and Paethongtarn Shinawatra, are major shareholders in the Thai firm, according to the newspaper.

In Hong Kong, Yingluck’s company registered its office at the same address as another firm. One of its directors, a woman, is believed to be close to Yingluck.

The Hong Kong businesswoman is also managing director of a Singapore-listed property company, the Hong Kong paper reported.

Yingluck registered her residential address as a luxurious house on The Peak, the highest hill in Hong Kong, that belonged to the businesswoman and her husband, according to corporate filings.

Political activists Nuttaa Mahuttana and Sirawith Seritiwat led a demonstration at urban Nakhon Ratchasima’s most prominent landmark, the Thao Suranari Monument, to demand the election be held next month as previously mooted by the ruling junta.

A similar protest took place in Chiang Mai, led by pro-democracy activists Parit Chiwarak and Prasit Krutarot. They drew a crowd of at least 50 people dismayed that the election tentatively scheduled for February 24 could be delayed into March.

Anger is rising, with the government yet to offer a clear explanation, other than concern that the time needed to formalise the poll outcome could interfere with preparations for the coronation of His Majesty the King, an event now set for early May.

More demonstrations are planned for Sunday, at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Bangkok and at city halls in all 76 provinces.

Sirawith said the hundreds of people participating in the Korat protest on Tuesday was an indication that many Thais mistrust the generals and want to see the election take place next month.

The coup-installed government had offered no sound reason to further postpone the poll after at least five prior delays, Sirawith said, adding that citizens could no longer tolerate the current political situation.

A delayed election could also interfere with national university-entrance exams, stirring anger among high-school students who vented their annoyance on social media.

Because February 24 appeared to be the chosen election date, aptitude testing for high-school seniors that was slated for the same period had to be moved forward, to February 16-19. The likelihood of another date change has riled the students again after all the earlier bother. Some demanded that the testing be rescheduled for February 24 if the election wasn’t taking place that day.

Fresh student complaints were still appearing online yesterday – most bearing a hashtag in Thai that can be translated as “#delaymyass”.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that a clearer picture of the poll timing would emerge today.

He said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha would today be meeting with the committee in charge of coronation preparations to discuss scheduling requirements.

Asked about the fuming high-school students, Wissanu said the agencies involved would consider testing them on February 24 if the election must be postponed.

DESPITE mounting criticism and widespread calls to avoid a further delay of the election, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday remained defiant and refused to say whether the poll would be put off, while claiming the international community understood the situation.

Thailand is the Asean chair this year and is required to host two summits of regional leaders and several other meetings at the ministerial and senior official levels.

Asean diplomats have expressed their worries that the political uncertainty might jeopardise Thailand’s leadership of the regional bloc. The first Asean ministerial meeting will take place in the middle of next week in Chiang Mai.

The much-anticipated Royal Decree on the election, which will allow the Election Commission to fix the poll date, has yet to be issued and Prayut yesterday said he did not know when it would be published in the Royal Gazette.

“It will be when it will be,” Prayut told reporters yesterday after the weekly Cabinet meeting. “I haven’t said anything about a delay or no delay.”

Speaking of the upcoming royal coronation, which is said to be the reason for the proposed delay in the election, Prayut said that international friends all wanted to participate in the event.

“All the countries I have visited, they understand. So, what do you want from me?” he said, apparently irritated by the criticism and media reports over the possibility of the national poll being postponed.

Although in the past couple months the regime had appeared firm about the election and even spoke of holding it on February 24, its recent moves suggest that the process might be put off by a month, to March 24, due to the coronation ceremony of the King in May. Confusion over legal issues have complicated the fixing of the election date. None of the concerned authorities had any answers to the public’s demand for an election.

Election Commission (EC) president Ittiporn Boonpracong yesterday rejected reports that the agency preferred March 10 as the day for the casting of ballots. Only after the Royal Decree on the election is published can the EC determine the poll date, he said.

“We at the EC are well aware of our responsibility. We have to follow the law and give some clarity to the public,” Ittiporn said. “But I don’t want to give out any unconfirmed information.”

Earlier, it was said that the EC wanted March 10 to be the polling day to ensure that they could finalise the results within 150 days of the electoral laws coming into effect.

The Constitution requires that the election process be completed within the 150-day period.

But questions arose if the 150-day period covered only the casting of ballots or also the announcement of the election results. There are fears that confusion on this score could lead to the annulment of the election as unconstitutional.

Ittiporn yesterday said that the agency was now focused on holding the election within 150 days after the electoral laws come into effect and announcing the results 60 days after the poll.

Despite the debate on the 150-period, Ittiporn said the agency had yet to consider bringing the question to the Constitutional Court.

In a related development, at least 150 pro-poll protesters yesterday gathered around the Ratchaprasong intersection in the heart of Bangkok to show their opposition to any delay of the election.

They demanded that the junta be frank about the publication of the Royal Decree and stop intervening in the electoral process, which is the responsibility of the EC.

While the government claims the overlapping of the royal coronation ceremony with the election could make the holding of an election in February difficult, the group said the government should be more efficient in its work to ensure that both the coronation and the election could go on according to the planned schedule.

“The intention of the Constitution is that after the four election-related laws come into effect, the Election Commission [EC] must organise the poll within 150 days – that is by May 9. This period does not include the counting of votes or finalising the results,” Chartchai explained.

His statement comes in light of the current debate on the organisation of the election, which faces another delay after nearly five years of military rule. Authorities have cited the overlapping of the voting process with the royal coronation as grounds for a delay.

If the poll must be delayed from the tentatively scheduled February 24, pro-election groups want the election to take place on March 10, as suggested by the EC. This is to ensure that the announcement of results can be made within 150 days of the electoral laws taking effect, otherwise the election could be unconstitutional and voided. Others, meanwhile, have argued that the 150-day period prescribed in the Constitution was only for the voting process and not the announcement of poll results.

Uncertainty continues as to when the election will take place with the government yet to publish a Royal Decree in the Royal Gazette.

According to law, the EC must announce the election date within five days of the issue of a Royal Decree.

Chartchai dubbed as a political game the argument that the poll result announcement is included in the 150-day period. Former EC commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn was among those making that case. A source in the defunct CDC said that Somchai was well aware of the intention of the Constitution. “He was in the meeting and we talked about this,” he said. “We all understood that the 150 days only cover the casting of ballots. The EC also acknowledged that.”

However, protesters, political activists and some politicians are voicing their opposition to the delay, calling on the government to keep its word on a February election.

The pro-election camp argued that the EC could announce the poll results earlier than the given 60 days to prevent overlapping with the coronation.

Suspicion is widespread that discussions about delaying the election tentatively scheduled for February 24 do not stem entirely from worries of a knock-on effect on the enthronement of the King.

With the junta’s history of repeatedly breaking its promise to allow an election, critics are sensing another “ploy” to try and cling to power or gain advantage over other parties ahead of the polls.

It could be, some say, that the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat Party is unprepared for the contest as scheduled, so the regime wants to delay it for another month.

Stithorn Thananithichot, a political scientist at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, said he did not think the delay would make much difference in terms of campaign strategies or policies. He advised voters to be on alert for any changes made among the MP candidates.

If Phalang Pracharat is in fact benefiting from a delay, it could be that it lured former MPs from other parties last month and must now wait for their membership to become valid so that they are eligible to run, Stithorn said.

The Constitution requires MP candidates to have been members of their parties for at least 30 days before applying to contest an election.

There is no evidence that the pro-junta party coaxed more former MPs away from other parties than it had two months ago, Stithorn said, but if it did, an election delay would prove helpful.

He speculated that the postponement might also be premised on the junta seeking to steer voter attention away from a slew of scandals that surfaced late last year. These included a controversial election fundraiser, a populist “New Year gift” programme and a deputy premier’s array of luxury wristwatches.

If that were the case, Stithorn said, the effort was unlikely to succeed.

“Delaying the election wouldn’t really ensure that voters forget all about the scandals or that the junta’s image would improve,” he said. “Other parties could just dig it up again at any time during the campaign.”

And if the junta’s festive-season cash handout to low-income earners was really an attempt to win votes, any voter goodwill it inspired towards Phalang Pracharat might have worn off by the time the re-scheduled election takes place, Stithorn added.

He thus believes the delay will do the regime no good as it seeks to retain power after the election.

Nor does the problem stop there, he said. An unreliable election timetable is bound to affect voter confidence.

“A lot of people are unsure about whether the election will be free and fair,” Stithorn said. “All these moves to alter the schedule just seem to confirm their perceptions.”

Some voters, as a result, might decide to stay home on election day, he said.

“When they’re not sure if they can trust the process, they might just forsake their right to vote. They won’t feel their vote matters if the election is fraudulent.”

However, he noted that a recent poll by King Prajadhipok’s Institute found enthusiasm about the election rising in the Northeast. Citizens expressed hope that their participation would ensure the desired outcome and prevent poll fraud.

Another concern about the delay involves the constitutionality of the election.

Right now two other possible dates are on the table. It has been reported that the Election Commission prefers March 10 if February 24 is not suitable, while the government has suggested March 24 as the perfect date to avoid any conflict with the coronation.

The debate now centres on the constitutional requirement that the election be “completed” within 150 days of the MP-election law coming into effect with its publication in the Royal Gazette. The question is whether it is the casting of ballots that must be completed – or the lengthier process that ends with the formal announcement of the results.

If it were the latter, said political scientist Chamnan Chanruang, balloting on March 24 would leave insufficient time to announce the results within 150 days and the election could be declared unconstitutional and voided. Stithorn and Chamnan agreed that March 10 would be the safer choice if the election cannot go ahead on February 24.

Hundreds of protesters in Bangkok yesterday demonstrated against talk of postponing the poll. They gathered on the skywalk around Victory Monument holding banners that read “No Delay”.

Observers have already begun voicing concern that any foul play aimed at upending the election could give rise to more street protests, which the junta has pledged to control.

Hundreds of pro-election demonstrators gathered peacefully at the Victory Monument skywalk on Sunday, urging the government not to postpone the election date.

The government and the Election Commission [EC] had earlier scheduled the next election for February 24 after all the concerned organic laws came into effect.

But to avoid any overlap with the coronation ceremony of HM Maha Vajiralongkorn set for May 4-6, the government has hinted that February 24 may no longer be an appropriate election date. They have suggested that the election be postponed by a month to March 24.

However, a source from the EC revealed that the agency preferred March 10 as the new election date.