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Published on October 27, 2007

"The EC is willing to accommodate complaints raised by media professionals and political parties and adjust the rules within the scope of the election law," EC member Prapun Naigowit said yesterday.

Following a meeting on Monday, the EC is scheduled to review the rules on Tuesday before granting some leeway, he said.

The EC approved campaigning rules on Thursday to oblige all political parties to follow its "road map" to make the election fair and equal. It claims the rules will reduce the influence of money politics.

The commission only allows all campaign billboards and posters to be set up in spots it designated. It also has the power to rule on the size of posters. The EC will also prescribe airtime on television and radio for all parties.

Candidates are only allowed to use cars to advertise campaign messages, but are banned from converting vehicles into a platform for making campaign speeches in front of a rally.

Meanwhile, Tavorn Senniam, the Democrat Party's deputy secretary-general, yesterday submitted a letter to the commission demanding it change the rules to make them more democratic.

A group of students of Ramkhamhaeng University also handed a letter to the EC to oppose the new rules.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the rules were impractical. The EC wanted to make the election fair and equal for all parties but it should also have a touch of democracy.

Under the rules, candidates are banned from campaigning although they wanted to reach the people, he said. But those who wanted to buy votes would still be able to carry on with their task, he added.

Chaturon Chaisang, an adviser to the People Power Party, blasted the EC. He said the rules reflected the EC's misunderstanding about principles of democracy and freedom of the people. They would cut off communication between candidates and voters, which would finally lead to widespread vote-buying.

Media associations yesterday petitioned the EC to cancel some regulations that hurt the freedom of the press and limit election campaigning by politicians.

After a joint meeting to scrutinise the new rules, the Thai Journalists Association and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association agreed the regulations could result in voters lacking enough information to decide on political parties and MP candidates.

They claim that politicians will refuse to give interviews to the media for fear of violating the rules.

Meanwhile, the EC did not make clear what kind of appearances by politicians on broadcast media were allowed, they said.

The People's Network for Elections (PNet) voiced concern that new campaigning rules might dampen the enthusiasm for voting in the December 23 general election instead of ensuring fairness as intended.

"The EC should learn the lesson from the senatorial race: that too stringent rules will lead to unanticipated consequences like denying the people crucial information to form a judgement," PNet coordinator Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said.

Somchai said he found the rules regarding restrictions on broadcasting messages and designated areas for rallying to be frivolous.

The EC might have good intentions, but it has omitted to note that the ban on senatorial campaigning caused the upper chamber to be filled with husband-and-wife teams, he said, blaming the rule for the skewed voting outcome.

He also pointed out that blanket airtime rules would discourage programmers from inviting top contenders to air their views, hence depriving voters from getting to know their candidates.

Under the rules, media outlets are obliged to allocate equal airtime to all parties and candidates.

The Nation