Today's planned third round of voting in a bid to elect the full quota of 500 MPs in the House of Representatives was yesterday stopped by the Central Administrative Court.

Polls had been planned for 14 constituencies in nine southern pro-vinces, and the cancellation fuelled speculation that the judiciary, in-structed by HM the King to find solutions to the present political stalemate, is moving toward nullifying the April 2  election as a whole.

The court said it had found cause for review of the April 2 election that would subsequently affect the results of today's planned vote.

The situation, however, remains highly complicated, as the Election Commission vowed to challenge the Central Administrative Court's jurisdiction in an appeal to the Constitution Court.

Both courts as well as the Supreme Court have been asked by HM the King to find a way out of the political crisis which has prevented the new House of Representatives from convening its first session following the opposition's boycott of the April 2 poll, which did not produce a full 500-MP House.

The Central Administriative Court said it had stopped the vote to save the country unnecessary ex-pense. "Should the court find the April 2 election to be flawed, then repeat votes will be invalidated as well," the court said in its injunction.

The injunction was prompted by two administrative lawsuits filed separately by two groups of 11 complainants led by Poepong Banlue-wongse and Pramual Werutta-masen.

The court combined the two lawsuits to hear the matters in one sitting on Thursday.

The complainants argued the Election Commission had failed to ensure honest and fair voting in the April 2 election.

The Constitution insists ballots be cast in a confidential manner, but the EC's configuration of the voting booths, allowing bystanders to see how people voted, was illegal, they argued.

The court said the EC's handling of how the voting booths were set up was an administrative matter falling under its judicial purview.

The injunction applied to planned votes in Chumphon, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Phang Nga, Phatthalung, Phuket, Songkhla and Surat Thani provinces.

The Office of the Ombudsman confirmed it had passed on a citizens' petition to the Constitution Court for review.

Thammasat University law lecturers filed the petition, arguing the election had been dishonest, unfair and contrary to the Constitution's intention.

Ombudsman Pramote Chotimongkol said the petition involved constitutional issues related to the EC's supervision of the electoral process.

Constitution Court acting president Phan Chantarapan said his court would convene on Monday to debate the issues.

"The judicial review will be put on fast track for continuous deliberation until a conclusion is reached," he said.

The court will rule on two key cases, both of which question the electoral process and could lead to the cancellation of election results, he said.

In the first case the EC asked for a judicial review of whether it was empowered to hand out rubber stamps with which to mark ballots, Phan said.

The second case was lodged by the Thammasat University lecturers, he said.

That case involves four legal issues: the hasty scheduling of the April election, the lack of voter privacy, funding for small parties to contest the polls and the EC's failure to conduct a formal review before endorsing the election results.

The EC yesterday suspended the third round of elections in 14 constituencies scheduled for today, but its pledge to appeal against the order could further complicate the situation.

EC Commissioner Prinya Nakchudtree said that following a meeting it had decided to comply with the court order.

However, Prinya said the EC would also file a complaint with the Constitution Court asking it to rule if the Administrative Court has the right to interfere with the EC's authority in managing the election.

The Constitution Court in 2003 ruled that the EC had absolute authority in managing an election, citing the case of Kowit Suratwadee, MP candidate of Bangkok, who filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court accusing the EC officials of electoral wrongdoing.

Prinya said the EC would endorse all remaining winners of the April 2 election by Sunday.