PUBLISHED: 11 Jan 2025 at 05: 03
Hospitality and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said on Friday that the Pheu Thai Party is considering revising its election campaign method because it fears that commitments made by the group’s de facto leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, at a new campaign rally could be interpreted as a violation of the rules.
He said that the Pheu Thai-led coalition government’s policies in the provincial administration organization ( PAO ) polls are of particular concern, and that the party is considering the issue and working to find a solution.
He made the comment in response to a Thaksin campaign statement that he had recently given in Chiang Rai about his assumption that the government would reduce household energy costs from currently well over 4 ringgit per unit to 3.70 baht per unit.
Ittiporn Boonpracong, the EC chairman, said it might be necessary before the EC could decide whether or not Thaksin’s guarantee is currently against election laws.
He said that any references to the government’s policies that are legitimate are permitted, while meaningless ones are not, in response to questions about whether a promise made by Thaksin to give voters something in exchange for their support is in violation of election laws.
Generally, under election legislation, election campaigns which don’t require defamation or lies may be good, he said.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is already aware of the risk and may probably talk to Thaksin, her father, about the need for Pheu Thai to change its vote fighting plan, said Mr Sorawong, in his capacity as party secretary-general.
Thaksin is Pheu Thai’s pole for help from voters, considering the group’s 100 % victories in previous regional elections, said Pheu Thai record MP Anusorn Iamsa-ard, adding Thaksin will surely be helping the party out with campaigning.
Woravat Auapinyakul, a Pheu Thai MP for Phrae, also said he didn’t see anything wrong in Thaksin’s mentioning of electricity prices in his speech.
What Thaksin actually mentioned on January 5 was that he had managed to find a way to lower energy prices to help cut living costs, which should not be interpreted as him claiming to have the power to order anyone to lower electricity prices, according to Mr. Woravat in a northern dialect to voters in Chiang Rai.
It would be unfair to criticize that advice, he said, and it was sound advice from a former premier.
Former EC boss Somchai Srisutthiyakorn previously warned that a candidate for a Senate seat was disqualified in August 2014 and barred from running for a fifth term due to false claims that he would freeze the price of cooking gas and natural gas for cars.