EC faces legal hurdle on probing PM's cooking shows

"In my personal opinion, the EC has no mandate to rule on Samak's qualifications to hold office as prime minister," he said.

Somchai said any dispute relating to the credentials of the prime minister should be adjudicated by the Constitution Court rather than the EC which is responsible for electoral rules.

Although the EC has formed an investigative panel to look into the complaint against Samak as filed by senator Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, the case might be aborted, he said.

On Tuesday, the four EC members were split on whether to proceed with the case. Somchai and his colleague Sodsri Sattayatham argued for dropping the case. The other two colleagues, Prapun Naigowit and Sumeth Upanisakorn pushed for the opposite.

EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond is expected to state his opinion after returning from a trip abroad.