Election must be held first, says Thai military

BANGKOK, December 15 (TNA) - Participants attending Thailand political reform forum on Sunday agreed that a general election should be held as a first step to implementing the country’s reforms. Top brass officials like General Nipat Thonglek, permanent secretary for Defence, said during the forum that the military would like to see the general election to be held next February 2 as scheduled. More than 400,000 military volunteers were willing to volunteer help the Election Commission organize the polls, he said. Leading the academic sector, Anusorn Thammachai, representative of Pridi Banomyong Institute, proposed that rival parties should be allowed to work with the Election Commission in holding the next election. He said political parties contesting the election must also ratify an agreement that they would respect the election results. He also proposed that an office for political reform be set up independently. Yuthaporn Issarachai, dean of Sukhothai Thammathirat University’s Faculty of Political Science, gave similar commentary for the election to be held along with the setting up of political reform. Meanwhile, Veerapat Pariyawong, an independent academic, noted that postponing the election date was impossible because the Constitution holds that a general election must be held within 45-60 days after parliamentary dissolution. The upcoming general election could be held transparently without having the ‘people’s council’ as demanded by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). Veerapat said the Election Law also allows the private sector to send representatives and work with the Election Commission in supervising the polls. Kothom Areeya of Mahidol University proposed that the political reform process must be open on a continuation basis so that people could participate and the opposition Democrat Party should also contest in the upcoming general election. (TNA)