Abhisit Urges Election Commission to Send Senate Case to Supreme Court

On September 11, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva stated that the Election Commission will vote on September 14 on whether to refer a Senate election fraud case to the Supreme Court's election division. Abhisit emphasized that the Election Commission is not a judge of guilt or innocence, but has a constitutional duty under Article 62 of the Senate Election Procedure Act to file a petition with the Supreme Court when there is credible evidence that a candidate or person has committed electoral fraud or violated electoral integrity. He expressed concern that the commission might attempt to narrow the scope of consideration and exclude Articles 76 and 77, which address political party involvement and vote-buying respectively. Abhisit noted that two Senate elections have now passed, and in the 2567 election multiple cases were referred to the Supreme Court for consideration of vote-trading and other violations. The Supreme Court has already ruled in several of these cases that vote-trading and coordinate candidate-pairing constitute electoral fraud and unfair advantage to other candidates. He stressed that nearly every case the Supreme Court has reviewed established violations based on the standards the Election Commission itself has previously used, and that failing to apply consistent standards would constitute discrimination and damage the political system.