Eighty-three winners in Thailand's December 23 election are still being investigated for poll fraud and could be disqualified, the country's Election Commission has said.
Most of those being investigated are from a party loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister ousted in a military coup in 2006. <
"We have endorsed 397 MPs who have received no protests," Apichart Sukhagganond, the commission chairman, said on Thursday.
Among the 83 facing investigation for vote-buying and other irregularities, 65 are candidates from the pro-Thaksin People Power party.
Six were from the anti-Thaksin Democrat party and the rest from four other parties.
The PPP won 233 of 480 seats in the election, just seven short of an outright majority.
Ealier this week the PPP said it had teamed up with three small parties to form a coalition government holding between them 254 seats in parliament.
Deadline
Parliament must meet to elect a prime minister by January 22 - 30 days after the elections - but cannot do so until the Election Commission has certified 95 per cent of the results.
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The PPP says it has teamed up with three
parties to form a coalition government [AFP] |
The Election Commission had been expected to certify the election results on Thursday.
Prapan Naikowit, a commission member, said all candidates should be given the all-clear by January 21, with by-elections in troubled seats scheduled for January 13 and 19.
But the PPP and some analysts say the generals who evicted Thaksin are pressing the commission to disqualify so many PPP candidates it will be impossible for the party to form a coalition.
So far, three PPP candidates have been disqualified and a re-run has been ordered in three constituencies.
The party faces another hurdle as the Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to hear a petition by the Democrat party to nullify the elections.
The Democrats, which came second in the race with 165 seats, accused the PPP of breaking election laws and the Election Commission of illegally holding advance voting a week before the polls.