July 11, 2024
BANGKOK – The EC met from 9am to 2.30pm and the EC voted 5 to 2 to endorse the 200 winners of the election.
The EC was initially scheduled to endorse the election results on July 3 after the final rounds of the senatorial election were held in Bangkok on June 26.
But the EC kept postponing the announcement of the official results after several groups and failed candidates filed complaints with the EC Office, alleging some winners lacked qualifications or of collusion in voting.
Later, EC Office secretary-general Sawang Boonmee said the EC resolved to endorse the winners as the elections were held clean and fair.
Sawang said the EC decided that the entire election process had been done properly and the checking of candidates’ qualifications were also done. As a result, the EC decided to endorse all 200 winners but it endorsed only 99 candidates on the waiting list instead of 100 because a candidate in one professional group was found to be disqualified, he said.
Sawang said the 200 winners must report to the EC to receive certification of their endorsement on Thursday and Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm.
A source said the candidate on the waiting list who was disqualified was Khodiyah Songngam, who contested in the mass communication group. The EC found that she was not a reporter or a journalist but an adviser to a politician in Angthong province, so she was removed from the 100-candidate waiting list.
The candidates on the waiting list could be moved up to become senators if any senators are later disqualified or resign.