EC sub-committees to be purged

Some members of the Election Commission's 15 sub-committees will be replaced after a spate of confidential information divulged to the media, election commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham said yesterday.

She cited the leak of secrets in an EC panel's decision on the investigation into the controversial Bt258-million donation to the Democrat Party by a private firm.

She suspected that whoever revealed to the media the panel's decision on the case wanted to pressure the EC into making decision that favoured some interest group. She said the EC, however, was under no pressure because it was its own boss.

"We have no bosses, and we make decisions basing on our own judgement.

"We do not always heed EC panels' decisions,'' she said.

Sodsri said she had found that some member of the EC's sub-committees were members of political parties both from the Opposition and the government camp, including nine members under the banner of parties that had been dissolved.

She said she would take the opportunity of appointing Wisut Phothitaen an election commissioner replacing Sumeth Ubanisakorn, who has retired, to discuss replacing sub-committee members.

She said each election commissioner had been asked to find about 20 candidates to be screened to replace existing members.

The EC will also review the work of all of its sub-committees to ensure it was in accordance with EC directives and would have security officials check if EC meeting rooms had been bugged.