"The EC instructed us to hold the additional candidacy registration at short notice, making it impossible to implement," Kitnan Phetudom, chairman of Constituency 7 Election Office, said.

The EC relayed its instructions late on Tuesday night and expected local election offices to comply the next morning without any preparation, Kitnan said, adding that he and his colleagues were tied up with the supervision of the senatorial race.

Instead of doing a halfbaked job, all seven chairmen decided not to get involved with the additional candidacy registration, he said.

Songkhla Election Office director Paitoon Jehae said the seven chairmen had notified him of their boycott.

"I decided to take over the seven chairmen's responsibilities in order to facilitate the registration process for additional candidates in Songkhla," Paitoon said.

Three of the seven chairmen have tendered their resignations in a gesture of protest over Paitoon's intervention, while the other four said they will resign after the com¬pletion of the repeat vote.

Democrat Party deputy secretary general Thaworn Senniam said the EC had no mandate to accept additional candidacy appli¬cations.

The bottom line was the EC had conspired with two small parties, Prachakorn Thai and Khon Kho Plod Nee, to help lone Thai Rak Thai Party candidates to overcome the 20 per cent rule, Thaworn said.

Under election law, candidates who run unopposed must achieve 20 per cent of eligible votes to validate the election outcome.

Thaworn said the EC had erred in allowing constituency hopping in the repeat vote for defeated candidates from the first round of balloting.

"The Supreme Court ruled against the EC and cancelled the planned repeat vote for two defeated candidates from Songkhla," he said.

Thai Rak Thai Party deputy leader Pongthep Thepkanchana said he had no opinion about the repeat vote in Songkhla.

"The conflicting views on how to manage the repeat vote are internal affairs for the EC to resolve without the involvement of the ruling party," he said.

As he understood it, he said, the EC was obliged to keep repeating the vote, regardless how many rounds, until it can fill 400 House seats.

He added that his party's candidates were bound to campaign until they passed the 20percent rule.

A group of 1,000 Songkhla residents rallied at the candidacy registration centre, protesting against the EC for attempting to validate the ruling party's candidates although local voters rejected them on April 2.

The Nation