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Published on December 28, 2007

A rift between Election Commission members worsened yesterday, with one commissioner saying a colleague would be replaced while another told reporters to ignore "a mad person".

The conflict came as the EC accepted complaints against five poll winners from the People Power Party. The candidates, all contesting in northeastern pro-vinces, were accused of vote-buying, offering benefits or distributing video CDs linked to former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

Commissioner Sodsri Sat-ayathum said EC members had met and agreed to exchange responsibilities among themselves as part of work adjustments after the election.

She said Somchai Jueng-prasert, her fellow commissioner who is in charge of investigations, would be replaced by EC chairman Apichart Sukhagga-nond. Sodsri said she and Somchai both expressed interest in supervising public participation affairs, currently under the charge of Sumeth Ubanisakorn.

Sumeth and fellow EC member Prapun Naigowit have not made up their minds about the jobs they are interested in taking up, she said.

However, EC chief Apichart said commissioners had not discussed changing their responsibilities. "At the meeting we discussed how to improve the investigation process after the election," he said.

When pressed about the matter, Somchai responded: "You don't listen to a mad person, otherwise there will be confusion. This is a comment by one person. Other EC members haven't talked about it."

A few days before the election, Sodsri complained publicly about the EC's failure to disqualify candidates accused of violating electoral law. She put the blame on officials in charge of investigations, saying hundreds of fraud complaints were questionably rejected.

Somchai expressed his dissatisfaction at Sodsri's allegation.

The Nation