EC chief: Poll endorsement won’t take too long

According to Ittiporn, the payment is also gathering proof in Pita’s media-shares case.

Election Commission chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong gestures during a news conference to update the vote count on May 15. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Ittiporn Boonpracong, president of the Election Commission, gestures during a press conference to release the vote total on May 15. Varuth Hirunyatheb( picture )

Ittiporn Boonpracong, chairman of the Election Commission ( EC ), declared on Saturday that poll results would be approved much sooner than they were in 2019 and well before the mid-July deadline.

According to the law, the EC must officially confirm at least 95 % of all MPs-elect within 60 days of Election Day, or until July 13. On May 8, 2019, or 45 days after election day, it finished this work. The 45-day level would be reached on June 28 this time.

Since a protracted period of uncertainty is bad for trust and the market, the people and businesses have been pleading with the EC to approve the outcomes as soon as possible. In order to move forward with forming a government, the partners in the potential coalition led by the Move Forward Party ( MFP) also want to expedite the process.

On Saturday, Mr. Ittiporn stated that the committee still had to adhere to the correct procedures even though the results would be approved more quickly than the previous time and undoubtedly earlier than within the 60-day deadline.

He stated that in order to determine where voting recalls or even fresh polls may need to be held, it must first check all 95, 000 polling places across the country. The EC ought to immediately have access to this information.

The procedure may then proceed quickly, and the time when the ballot results may be formally endorsed would be clear, according to the EC chairman.

Next year, everyone is expected to be clear, he told the media. The EC is fully aware of the need to support statistic effects that might not be postponed. But, there are rules that the payment must adhere to.

According to him, there were about 280 problems against MPs-elect as of Friday. Approximately 20 winning candidates were the target of those issues, he continued.

The EC is currently focusing on determining whether those issues are supported by convincing data, he said.

iTV shares a circumstance

Even if Move Forward’s victory is declared standard later this month, the party will still encounter a challenge in the form of allegations that Pita Limjaroenrat, its leader, violated election laws by owning stock in media companies.

The EC had not yet started proper consideration, according to Mr. Ittiporn, who claimed that facts and evidence regarding Mrs. Pita’s ownership stakes in iTV Plc were still being gathered. If the problems are dismissed, Mr. Pita is in the obvious. However, the fee may ask the Constitutional Court for a decision if it is unsure. Mr. Ittiporn declined to say whether it would.

When asked whether Mr. Pita’s case was different from the one against Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the head of the Progressive Movement, said the EC chair,” All holding situations are based on the facts and evidence at hand.”

Mr. Thanathorn owned 675,000 shares in V-Lucy Media Co Ltd., a life publication that was shut down. However, the Constitutional Court decided in November 2019 that he was not eligible to serve as an MP due to his ownership. The Future Forward Party, which Mr. Thanathorn had founded and led, was disbanded by the judge three months later due to a product he had made to it.

42, 000 stock of iTV, an independent journalist established in the 1990s, are at issue in Mr. Pita’s event. His parents, who passed away in 2006, was the original owner of the stocks. Mr. Pita attempted to sell the shares while serving as the estate’s director but was unsuccessful in doing so. He previously stated that he had given the EC an explanation of the situation before being sworn in following the vote in 2019.

In 2007, iTV ceased television, and Thai PBS took over its license. In 2014, the business was removed from the Thai Stock Exchange. Its company registration is still effective, though, as there is ongoing legal action against the government for concession fees. Other than small amounts from a company that rented gear to broadcasters but was dissolved in 2002, it hasn’t made any money from media activities in many years.

With 151 tickets, Move Forward won the election last month, 10 more than the Pheu Thai Party. A 313-member partnership made up of them and six other events aspires to become the next state.