Election Commission chief stands firm on not quitting post

CHANTHABURI, June 4 (TNA) - Despite mounting pressure for the three remaining members of Thailand's Election Commission (EC) to quit their posts, EC chairman Pol. Gen. Vasana Puemlarp said Sunday that he still had responsibilities to handle, including the election of local administrative officials and the endorsement of elected senators.

Speaking to journalists at his farm in this eastern province, Gen. Vasana admitted that his independent agency neither had sufficient manpower to handle supervising elections nor the power to enforce compliance of candidates accused of wrongdoing to admit their guilt.

The EC is not a police agency, the chairman suggested.

Gen. Vasana asked, rhetorically, who would supervise Thailand's more than 300 local administration elections scheduled between June and August and endorse the remaining 91 senators who were elected in April this year if not the Election Commission..

Screening prospective EC members would take about six months, he said, and it would require an added six months for senators to go through the process to screen the biographies and performance records of the newly proposed EC members.

The constitution stipulated clearly that the remaining EC members could continue to perform their duties, he claimed.

On Thursday, Supreme Court president Charnchai Likhitjittha expressed disapproval of the commissioners in a letter to caretaker Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua that also rejected Mr. Suchon's call for the Supreme Court to fill two vacancies in the five-member EC to enable the EC to continue its work.

Mr. Charnchai wrote that the assembly of Supreme Court judges did not believe the three remaining EC members could guarantee fairness in the general election scheduled for October 15.

Gen. Vasana said he was appointed by His Majesty the King and he believed that the remaining two EC members would also leave their posts if he decided to relinquish his position.

It would hurt plans to organize local administrative elections and eventually the country's image [for him to leave], he asserted, saying again that he would not leave his position of his own accord.

The EC chief said, however, that he is publishing a book Monday or Tuesday, but declined to disclose its details.

TNA