iLaw Names Nine Officials Linked to Senate Election Rigging
iLaw submitted evidence naming nine government officials, including Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, in an alleged Senate election rigging scheme that iLaw says risks being dismissed through Election Commission interference.
On July 21, 2025, at Parliament, Yingcheep Atchananont, director of the iLaw (Internet for People's Law) project, submitted evidence regarding the Senate election rigging case to Priset Wachrasindhu, opposition coalition coordinator and Thai Raksa Chart Party leader. Atchananont stated that iLaw has been gathering evidence since 2024, and many senior government officials have become accused persons in the case. He warned that suspects are undergoing prosecution but risk leniency through Election Commission manipulation, prompting iLaw to bring the evidence to the opposition coalition for scrutiny.
The evidence concerns nine government officials and MPs, including: Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who in 2023 served as Bhumjaithai deputy leader and allegedly received 14 witnesses at Parliament requesting his help securing Senate seats; Deputy PM Songsak Tongsri, linked to witness accounts of coordinated Senate voter management at hotels in Northeast Thailand; Minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office Bhradar Parisnanantakul, described as designer of Bhumjaithai's candidate deployment scheme offering 10,000-40,000 baht per candidate; and MP Kraveewan Parisnanantakul of Ang Thong, coalition president spokesman, whose assistant allegedly transported Senate candidates to coordination meetings at hotels in Nakhon Nayok and Maryarden Garden Hotel.
