Thaikorn Polsuwan, coordinator of Isaan's Struggle for the Country's Independence, said yesterday he has evidence that a large party gave money to candidates of small parties to run in constituencies where its candidate running alone may not get the minimum 20 per cent of eligible votes required to be elected.

In constituencies that are contested, the winners just need to beat their opponents, and don't need to get 20 per cent of the eligible votes.

Thaikorn said his group sent two people acting as MP candidates to a meeting at the Kanmani Hotel on Pradiphat Road in Bangkok. Representatives of the large party gave each person in attendance Bt20,000 on the spot and said they would pay Bt100,000 after they apply to be candidates.

Two senior provincial EC officials helped the large party by falsifying the applications of the candidates so they could qualify, such as their academic records, party membership terms, legal domicile and voting history, he said.

"This election collusion took place from March 4-7 in every province across the country, especially in the South where the large party was concerned that it may fail to get 20 per cent of eligible votes

in constituencies that it fields candidates without competition,'' Thaikorn said.

He said he planned to file a complaint with the Election Commis-sion. And if the parties were proven guilty, they could be subject to dissolution.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, 40 candidates from small parties showed up to register at the same time, making it look like they were part of the plan, he said.

The EC should check the registration of the small parties to see if each has the signatures of its leader to indicate when the candidates became members of the party, he said.

The People's Network for Elections (PNET) also said small political parties were offered financial support to field MP candidates in constituencies where the large party may not get enough support.

Prapot Srithet, chairman of PNET's lower northern region, said the election watchdog has received complaints that leaders of small parties were offered Bt1 million in some constituencies where voters are expected to abstain. Although PNET has decided against formally taking part in monitoring the snap election, it has been observing the situation.

Pichet Phanwichatkul led other members of the Democrat Party executive board to file a complaint with the Election Commission against some MP candidates of small parties. The Democrats said the candidates were not actually party members but had documents to certify that they belonged to the party for more than 90 days.

He found it strange that many candidates of Thai Chuay Thai Party had applied to become party members on the same day, May 10 of last year. He urged the EC to investigate if they had faked their documents.

Pichet said the large party was struggling to find people to run against its candidates. "They unknowingly contacted even Democrats, saying you don't need to worry about paperwork as they would handle it for you. We don't want to see this new Parliament turn into a joke,'' he said.

Prapot also questioned if Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's pledge to a local leader that the government would boost funding for the SML project from Bt200,000 to Bt250,00 for each village was a violation of the election law.

Thaksin was on the campaign trail in the East, where he inspected implementation of an SML (Small, Medium and Large) village fund project in Nakhon Nayok.