Court fends off frantic last-ditch attempt to postpone elections
The Central Administrative Court yesterday ruled against opening an urgent inquiry on the alleged campaign violations of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, foiling the last-ditch hope of his opponents for a delay in tomorrow's election.
In the morning the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) filed an urgent petition seeking an injunction against the vote in order to investigate Thaksin's campaign activities, which have been construed as vote-buying. The PAD said the Election Commission had refused to investigate Thaksin, prompting it to seek the court's intervention, saying the EC should decide whether to disqualify the premier before the vote. In its ruling in the afternoon, the court said electoral law empowered the EC to exercise its discretion in dealing with cases involving campaign violations. "The relevant laws do not specify an exact time frame for the EC to follow, and this court finds intervention that transgresses on the EC's jurisdiction unwarranted and an unjustified obstacle to the vote," the ruling said. The urgent verdict addressed part of the PAD's petition pertaining to the vote. The court has yet to rule whether to launch a judicial review into alleged EC favouritism towards Thaksin.
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