Thailand's By-election Fraud Again Rampant by Phairath Khampha 18 July 2001 In a demonstration of how weak Thailand's democracy is, reports of Electoral wrongdoing were received in all seven constituencies in six of Thailand's provinces where by-elections were held in July 2001, election commissioner Sawat Chotipanit said. Vote-buying was reported in many villages in Khon Kaen. In Nakhon Nayok, a canvasser was arrested for showing movies to voters without permission. In Buri Ram, parties were thrown for voters and money was given in return for votes. Voters who reported wrongdoings were subject to the kidnapping of their children, violence and shots fired into the air. There were three complaints of electoral fraud in Constituency One, and seven in Constituency 10 of Ubon Ratchathani. Most were complaints of vote-buying. By-elections were also held in Kanchanaburi and Surin, as the Election Commission did not acknowledge previous winners. Sawat said he had ordered a separate investigation of Chat Thai MP Thirachote Konthong (Surin) by the Ubon Ratchathani Election Commission, as a police investigation might be delayed. He said the EC might have difficulty wrapping up the investigation as Thirachote refused to give any statements and was released shortly after he was arrested on July 6 due to MP immunity. Election commissioner Yuwarat Kamolwet said the EC would wait to see whether the evidence seized by police clearly implicated Sakchai Chintawet, the Ubon Ratchathani MP candidate, in attempted vote-buying. Otherwise the EC would only issue a "yellow card'' for him. Police vowed to prosecute within two weeks Thirachote and nine others arrested on July 6 who were charged with electoral wrongdoing. Deputy superintendent Pol Col Suthep Supasiri said police would send 400 pamphlets seized from Thirachote's pickup truck to the Election Commission to determine whether they were falsified. The pamphlets, supposedly endorsed by the EC, claimed that a Thai Rak Thai MP candidate for Ubon Ratchathani Constituency 10, Kitipong Tiamsuwan, committed electoral wrongdoing but police suspected they were fake. Police arrested Thirachote on July 6 and seized 100,000 baht in cash from his pick-up truck while he was helping an MP candidate in the election campaign. Suthep said his superiors ordered him to go ahead and prosecute Thirachote as there would be no political interference in the case. If found guilty, Thirachote would face a 10-year ban from politics in addition to 10 year's imprisonment and a 200,000 baht fine. Police requested the disqualification of Chat Thai MP candidate Sak-chai, to whom Thi-rachote was tied in a vote-buying plan. Nine other suspects arrested on July 6 were released three days afterwards on bail of 200,000 baht each. Thirachote and the nine others were charged with conspiring to cheat voters and defaming an MP candidate, falsifying documents and using a car with no licence plate. Scattered rain throughout Buri Ram on election day resulted in low voter turnout. Election authorities had prepared all facilities for reserve power in case there were power failures during the vote count due to the rain. Witnesses in vote-buying case allege EC threats Five villagers who were witnesses in the Nakhon Nayok vote-buying case on July 17 filed a complaint with crime suppression police against the Election Commission. They accused EC officials of leaking statements they gave and causing them to be intimidated by the winning candidate into reversing their statement. The villagers said Election Commission authorities questioned them on the day of the by-election. They said they had told the officials that the winning candidate - Wuthichai Kittithanesuan of the Chat Thai party, who had not yet been endorsed by the EC - offered them 100 baht in return for voting for him. They said they accepted the money offered to them. One of the villagers said that on July 14 his child was abducted from school, and afterward he was told to go meet the winning candidate at his home. When he went there, he said, the candidate asked him to reverse statements given to the EC, which were recorded on videotape. He said he was also forced to sign his signature on the statements reversing his earlier evidence. After that, he said, his child was released. Another villager said that a man came to watch over his neighbours, who were witnesses for the EC, in an attempt to intimidate them. Other neighbours said they were stalked and that some men fired bullets into the sky outside their homes. So much for any semblance of democracy in Thailand. It is more like thuggery by the corrupt economic and political elite.