BANGKOK, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The suspension of electoral candidacy of a veteran politician last year by Thailand's Election Commission (EC) was legally considered final and irreversible, said EC secretary general Charungwit Phumma on Wednesday.
His comments followed Tuesday's ruling of the Supreme Court to lift a vote-buying lawsuit filed by the EC against Suraphol Kiatchaiyakorn, who ran under the tickets of the Pheu Thai Party and won votes for MP of Chiang Mai province in last year's general election.
The Supreme Court judges in charge of electoral affairs ruled that Suraphol was not buying votes as alleged by the polling agency when he handed out 2,000 baht (about 63.23 U.S. dollars) in cash to a monk during a merit-making ceremony in his home province of Chiang Mai.
The polling agency's commissioners earlier resolved to hand out a punitive orange card to the Pheu Thai veteran politician and subsequently held a by-election for MP to replace him.
Charungwit contended that Suraphol has practically lost his MP status since he was given the orange card, following the EC decision, which, he said, was legally held as final and irreversible.
However, the EC secretary general declined to comment on Suraphol's plan to file a damage lawsuit worth 70 million baht (about 2.21 million U.S. dollars) against the EC, which has still denied him the MP status in spite of the Supreme Court's ruling. Enditem
