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Published on October 31, 2007

EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond said the EC had done its best to make the directives practical for all parties.

"We will remove the clauses which are unnecessary to allow practices that have been carried out to continue, as we do not want to breach protocol," he said.

The EC will amend its directives to allow candidates to hold musical parades or processions on registration day.

Political parties will be allowed to freely organise their own campaign stages. However the cost in making the stage will be included as election expenses. The EC also will continue to provide central campaign stages. It will remove the clause that stipulated "Do not modify a pick-up truck as a campaign stage".

Candidates who were actors or actresses could work as normal without having to quit, he said. However, they should not act or say anything to make their audiences get the impression they are campaigning, he said.

The directive, which bans candidates from accepting invitations from broadcast media to appear on their programmes, would also be lifted, he said.

The amendment of election directives would be completed within this week. "I do not think that amending the directives will make us lose face," he said.

EC commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham, who opposed the amendments, did not attend the meeting. Apichart, however, said the decision was legitimate as the meeting had a quorum of four commissioners.

National Legislative Assembly chairman Meechai Ruchuphan had urged the commission to clarify its controversial campaigning rules to prevent lawsuits after the election.

Meechai said the EC should amend the rules that were impractical. If the commission insisted the rules were practical, it should make clear which particular actions were allowed and which were against the law.

"For instance, the EC must be clear if a politician giving a media interview is part of the election campaign or not. If it says yes, would this be too strict? Or would it violate press freedom or not?" he said.

The media and politicians must ask the EC in writing what actions were legal or illegal to prevent lawsuits being filed with the Constitution Tribunal. "If that is the case, there will be a lot of hassles because judges may take a long time to make a ruling," he said.

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

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

Candidates will be allowed to use cars to advertise campaign messages but are banned from converting vehicles into a platform for campaign speeches.

The Nation