Deluge of appeals
The Supreme Court yesterday assigned 15 teams of judges to conduct appellate reviews on candidacy qualifications in a bid to expedite rulings ahead of the April 2 election.
The court anticipates a deluge of appeals as the Election Commission had disqualified 320 of 941 constituency candidates.Every disqualified candidate is entitled to contest the EC decision via a judicial review. In an initial appellate ruling yesterday, the high court confirmed the disqualification of Thai Rak Thai candidate Udom Kraiwatnussorn on grounds that he had failed to vote in the last general election. The result of the disqualification is that there will be no candidates running in Samut Sakhon's constituency three. Local voters will have the choice to cast a party-list vote or tick the "no vote" box. In another ruling, the court dismissed an appeal to restore the party-list candidates from the Social Action Party saying the court's jurisdiction covers constituency candidates, not those on the party-list.
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