EC members face pressure to resign
The Election Commissioners are facing intensifying pressure to quit in the wake of the heavily criticised April 2 general election.
"It is time for the four EC members to show responsibility for the unfair polls," Mahachon Party leader Sanan Kachornprasart said yesterday. Sanan said the EC had no credibility to run the ballots and the commissioners should not try to cling to office. The EC members had erred in arguing that they were needed to complete the electoral process, he said, because they could be replaced. Outgoing Senator Kraisak Choonhavan said the EC members would have no choice but resign if the courts rule this week to invalidate the election outcome. Kraisak said the public had lost confidence in the commission's performance and doubts about its fairness would persist if its current members remain in office. People's Alliance for Democracy leader Somkiart Pongpaiboon said the EC members should reimburse the balloting costs because they had failed to do their job properly. EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp and other EC members could not be reached to comment on the call for their resignation. In a previous interview about his supervision of the April 2 vote, Vasana said he intended to complete his term, which runs ends in 2008.
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