Vasana's call to fill EC seats supported
Officials of the Election Commission have backed up their chairman Vasana Puemlarp's call for the Supreme Court to fill two vacant seats on the EC instead of insisting the three incumbent commissioners step aside.
"The only way out of the political crisis is to ensure the presence of five election commissioners, allowing the EC to properly prepare for the new election," EC spokesman Prasert Suthisonthi said yesterday. EC secretary-general Ekachai Warunprapa and other senior officials came to the conclusion that the high court should drop its demand for the departure of the three commissioners, Prasert said. "Under the circumstances, the high court could help to break the political stalemate by enabling the EC to do its job with five commissioners," he said. Vasana last week offered to pledge in writing that he would resign if the high court agreed to fill two vacant seats. He said he could not take his exit now because of the commission's work backlog. Should the vacant seats be filled, he could step down while ensuring the quorum of four commissioners to carry on, he said. In May, the high court called for a revamp of the EC to restore the credibility of the electoral process following the botched April 2 vote.
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