Court clears party candidates

The ruling in favour of Adul Lueangboriboon also cleared doubts over 11 party candidates whose candidacy qualifications were questioned by the Election Commission.

This effectively restores the party's chance to keep House seats previously won by executives of Chart Thai, who were banned from politics for five years when the party was dissolved late last year.

As plaintiff, the provincial electoral office contended that Adul might not qualify for the by-election because he failed to provide necessary records to confirm he had been a party member for 90 days, the time required for candidacy registration.

In its ruling, the high court said factual evidence confirmed Adul was a party member from October 8 and that he and the party met legal requirements for candidacy registration.

Records showed Adul sought and received party membership in time to join the by-election. He had completed necessary procedures to adopt Chat Thai Pattana Party's banner.

The party, in turn, notified electoral authorities about Adul's membership via its update report submitted every three months.

A copy of that report was attached on Adul's candidacy registration form filed on December 22 at the start of the by-election campaign.

The only contentious issue was that Adul had not included a copy of his party membership application form by the deadline as requested by electoral officials. However, he filed the required copy on a later date.

The plaintiff argued that Adul had acted suspiciously by missing the deadline, and that this was grounds to disqualify his candidacy.

The court rejected this on the grounds that electoral provisions and relevant laws do not require mandatory filing of copies of an application form. Electoral officials exercised their own discretion to demand the copy and set the deadline.

The ruling went on to note that the plaintiff did not dispute the authenticity of the documents submitted by Adul and his party. Therefore, there was no cause to suspect foul play.

Adul emerged from the court smiling but refused to talk to reporters, saying he had to rush to resume campaigning.

Party leader Chumpol Silapa-archa said the ruling lifted a cloud of uncertainty over his party, and would allow the candidates to focus on the final week of campaigning.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court yesterday also reinstated the candidacy of a Democrat to contest Sunday's by-election in Samut Prakan after finding the local electoral office had erred in its record keeping.

The court ruled that electoral officials had mistakenly disqualified Soracha Weerachatwattana due to a technical glitch in its database for party membership.

Soracha has been a member of the Democrat Party since September 10, 2004. She ran in two general elections in 2005 and 2006. At both times, the electoral official acknowledged and certified her party membership.

Due to mechanical malfunction, electoral officials could not find her name on the Democrats' membership list last month during candidacy registration and cut her from the race.