Prasit Urges Election Commission to Send Senate Vote-Buying Case Involving 229 People to Court, Cites Strong Evidence

At 9:00 AM on May 26, 2025, at Parliament, Prasit Chawansakul, a list-based MP and deputy leader of the Pheu Thai Party, gave an interview regarding 89 senators who gathered to issue a statement criticizing Nattapong Ruangpanya-wit, a list-based senator and Pheu Thai Party leader, for alleged references to the "blue regime." Prasit used the opportunity to call on the public to monitor another group of over 130 senators whose names appear in Investigation Committee 16's report of the Election Commission (EC). That committee has voted to recommend that the EC refer the case to court to prosecute 229 people for senate vote-buying. This group includes over 130 senators plus a network of political party members, ministers, and national-level politicians—totaling over 90 additional individuals.

Prasit stated that the EC must make a decision within one month on whether to follow the investigation committee's recommendation and refer the case to court, or to dismiss and close it. The evidence in the committee's file includes numerous ballot numbers that are identical—contradicting mathematical probability—along with evidence of meetings, joint travel, financial trails, and hiring arrangements. This constitutes sufficiently strong evidence to warrant court review.

Comparing this to the red-number case 53/2568 from the past, the EC previously referred a case to court where the judge found guilt based solely on LINE chat messages between two individuals discussing vote trades. Given the far more substantial evidence in the current case, questions would arise if the EC decides not to refer it.

Should the EC vote against referral, it would invite accusations and prompt public questions about whether four of seven EC commissioners—who were endorsed by senators named in this case—are influencing the decision.