Published on January 31, 2005

The use of stickers containing quotes by Their Majesties the King and Queen is unlikely to be against the electoral law, Election Commission secretary-general Ekkachai Waroonprapha said yesterday.

Ekkachai said his opinion was based on information he had gathered, but that his agency had not yet formally accepted the complaint against the Democrat Party because it was awaiting the findings of an initial investigation by its fact-finding team.

He said that the Thai Rak Thai Party had presented an item of evidence with its petition to the EC. He did not identify the evidence but said that it was not audio recordings.

The Thai Rak Thai claimed at a press conference yesterday that it had audio recordings of “secret meetings” to prove its accusations against the Democrats over the stickers.

Last Monday, police arrested three Democrat party workers outside the party’s Klong Toei office in possession of thousands of stickers bearing Their Majesties’ statements denouncing corruption.

Senior Democrat figures claimed the arrest was a frame-up to smear the party’s name. They said the workers had found the stickers outside the office.

TRT spokesman Suranand Vejjajiva yesterday called on Democrat leaders to “admit to their guilt instead of passing the buck to others”.

Speaking at the same press briefing at Saha Farm Co Ltd yesterday afternoon, Sita Divari, the party’s candidate for the Klong Toei constituency, said the TRT had audio recordings of three secret meetings on the printing of the stickers in question. He claimed that some of the participants were linked to senior Democrat figures.

TRT legal adviser Chusak Sirinil said that he believed the use of such stickers was in violation of the electoral law and that the political party involved could be disbanded if found to be responsible.

Police yesterday questioned two 10-year-old girls who were hired to distribute the stickers in the Klong Toei slum. The primary school students were interrogated for about an hour in the presence of their mothers at the Metropolitan Police Division 1 office.

In a related development, Donlacha Thepsiew, a 23-year-old Democrat worker who was arrested in possession of the stickers, yesterday called on senior party figures to “admit the reality”.

Speaking with tears in her eyes, Donlacha said that she felt betrayed. Donlacha worked for Thanom Onketphol, the Democrat candidate for the Klong Toei.

Maj-General Kamol Kaewsuwan, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said yesterday that he had assigned police protection for Donlacha following a report that she was threatened.

Democrat leader Banyat Bantadtan yesterday insisted that the party was not behind the stickers. He said the TRT was playing up the issue for political purposes.

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