The Election Commission (EC) is facing a credibility test as it schedules a vote on the Senate collusion case for Sept 14. Opposition figures warn that this decision could reshape the political system.
EC commissioner Narong Rakroi said on Saturday the seven-member panel would decide on Sept 14 whether to forward the Senate collusion case to the Supreme Court after reviewing the files for three months.
He said the date was unanimously agreed by the panel after examining problematic files involving senators. Additional information may still be needed on some issues, Mr Narong added.
The announcement comes as opposition parties and civil society groups increase the pressure on the EC over whether it will forward the case to the Supreme Court. A total of 229 people are accused of colluding to manipulate the 2024 Senate election.
Mr Narong dismissed critics’ claims that pressure had influenced the commission, saying it was following the law and established procedures. “Please be confident in all seven of us,” he said.
The case has become a major test of the EC’s interpretation of the legal threshold requiring “reasonable grounds to believe” that electoral wrongdoing has occurred before a case is forwarded to the court.
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the EC should not act as a judge in deciding whether those accused were guilty, but determine whether there was sufficient evidence to send the case to the judiciary.
Commenting on reports that those implicated might escape prosecution, he said this would raise questions about the standard applied by the EC.
Mr Abhisit pointed to Supreme Court rulings last year in which exchanges of votes through Line conversations were found sufficient to constitute violations of the law governing Senate selection.
He questioned why allegations of an organised operation should not also be sent to court if the evidence met the legal threshold.
People’s Party (PP) list-MP Parit Wacharasindhu meanwhile unveiled what he described as new evidence linked to the case, including phone-location data, vote sheets, money trails and telephone records.
Location data showed 40 senators, among the 229 people in the case files, were near the Pullman hotel on July 21, 2024, he said.
Mr Parit said that combined with other information already made public, this could provide reasonable grounds to believe electoral manipulation had taken place.
PP MP for Samut Prakan Phanida Mongkolsawat highlighted links between four Uthai Thani senators and Deputy Interior Minister Jeseth Thaiseth, including telephone records and relationships involving aides and former staff.
Opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said the case was a test of whether independent organisations could exercise checks and balances.
He questioned whether the EC could impartially determine whether there were grounds to believe the Senate election was rigged, noting that four of its seven members were selected by the current Senate, some of whose members are being investigated.
He said the issue was larger than individual prosecutions, describing alleged manipulation of the Senate election as the starting point of what he called the “blue regime” gaining control over key political institutions.