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Published on September 14, 2007

The three draft laws are scheduled to start their final two readings next week in order to pave way for the election, scheduled for December 23.

"A petition to review the six issues will be submitted on Tuesday before the start of the final debate for legislative passage," Democrat Party deputy leader Jurin Laksanavisit said on the alliance's behalf.

On the first issue, the alliance is urging the insertion of a clause requiring the Election Commission (EC) to establish a probable cause of guilt before ordering agencies to audit financial records of political parties or individuals involved in electoral fraud.

In the original draft, the EC has been given a mandate to order financial probes by the Office of the Auditor-General and the Anti-Money Laundering Office on suspicion of parties or individuals.

For the second issue, the alliance says a seven-day deadline should be set for an electoral appeal submitted to the Supreme Court to overturn the EC's decision to cancel a balloting outcome.

Without a deadline, rival candidates might try to drag out the litigation in attempt to disrupt the polls.

Regarding the third issue, it calls for a clause to be inserted requiring the EC to disclose its decision to disqualify electoral candidates and voting results as per the Official Information Act, in order to allow the parties concerned to gain access to critical information.

On the fourth issue, the alliance says members of provincial electoral offices should be required to declare their assets under the same procedure applied to the five EC members.

On the fifth issue, it urges that a clear procedure be mapped out to deal with provincial electoral officials found to have abandoned impartiality.

The sixth issue is to cut the deadline from 90 to 60 days for the EC to complete investigations into the misconduct of provincial electoral officials.

The Nation