Weeradet Phupisit, the only successful candidate from the main opposition People's Party (PP) in the latest round of elections for provincial administrative organisation (PAO) presidents, stands accused of defaming his rivals during campaigning in Lamphun.
Provincial election authorities are conducting a fact-finding probe to find out whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with a formal preliminary investigation at the provincial level, Election Commission (EC) chairman, Itthiporn Boonpracong, said yesterday.
The provincial election regulator has at most 90 days to complete the investigation and then submit its findings to the EC in Bangkok for review and a decision on whether any further investigation is needed, he said.
Weeradet: Facing a probe
The central EC will then have at most 60 days to examine the preliminary investigation's results and then ask its sub-committee responsible for judging the case to recommend what action should be then ordered regarding the allegation based on the same set of findings, he said.
The subcommittee will be given up to 90 days to get the job done, Mr Itthiporn said.
All the results of the Feb 1 PAO elections have already been endorsed by the EC, except for those pertaining to the PAO members in Chachoengsao and Trat, where the winning candidates were suspended due to eligibility transgressions.
A re-run will be conducted on April 12 to find new winners in these two provinces, he said.
Trang, Suphan Buri and Chumphon will also require a re-run of the Feb 1 poll because these provinces only had one candidate each contesting the PAO president election who won with scores accounting for less than 10% of the total voter turnout and less than the no vote percentage, Mr Itthiporn said.
