Wasana cites local elections as main reason to stay put
Chanthaburi - Election Commission chairman Wassana Puemlarp announced Sunday that he has many reasons to remain in office, including his determination to organise elections of some 300 local administrations.
In an one-and-a-half-hour special interview to the media in Chanthaburi, Wassana said the local elections had to be held from June to August. "I've been appointed by a royal command. If I resign, the two other EC commissioners will also resign but I will have to organize elections of 300 local administrations. The country will suffer if the elections are not held. If I resign, I'll have to ensure that the next EC will continue the works smoothly," Wassana said. Wassana denied that he favoured the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, noting that when the Democrat lead a government was also seen as a man of the Democrat when he was secretary-general of the Office of Anti-money Laundering. He said the EC under his leadership was seen as lacing efficiency in holding clean and fair elections because it did not have enough personnel and did not receive full cooperation from other government agencies. He said politicians had also learnt to use legal loopholes following the nine years enforcement of the current Constitution. "Politicians may be afraid of the first EC but now they have learnt how to avoid being caught after the Constitution has been enforced for nine years," Wassana said. He said he was tired and would like to resign but he needed to stay on to organise the local elections. Wassana said if he resigned, the new EC would not be set up in time. He noted that it took six months for the entire procedures to set up the current EC. He argued that the Constitution Court did not blame the EC when it invalidated the April 2 election.
The Nation
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