2 days ago
Voting fraud still an issue
The latest report about MPs receiving cash offers to vote for bills proposed by the government shows how money politics continues to corrode Thailand's parliamentary system. An immediate and thorough investigation is needed to clear up any doubts about the integrity of our lawmakers and find out who the wrongdoers are, in the hope of preventing illegal lobbying in the future.
Last week, People's Party MP for Khon Kaen, Chatchawan Apirakmankong, revealed that he had been offered 10 million baht to back the 2026 Budget Bill and the Entertainment Complex Bill, before it was withdrawn.
To back his claim, he played a recording in which a woman could be heard negotiating payments in exchange for support on key government bills. The offer, he said, came from a woman who reached out to him through Facebook on June 23. She asked him for his phone number and invited him to chat over coffee. When the woman eventually revealed her intention, Mr Chatchawan said he promptly rejected the offer.
He was not the only person approached by the mystery woman. Another Khon Kaen MP, Weeranan Hudsri, said the same person had called him on June 22. A third MP, from Nonthaburi, said the woman went as far as presenting a written contract for him to sign.
While the bribery attempts were blatant, they didn't really come as a surprise. Over the years, there have been numerous reports about vote fraud in parliament. Votes weren't the only things that were getting bought and sold -- there were even reports about MPs getting paid to move to another political party.
Several MPs have been jailed and/or banned from politics for letting other parties influence their vote in parliament. In 2022, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced Pheu Thai MP Narisorn Thongthirach to 16 months in prison for casting votes on behalf of other lawmakers during House meetings in 2013.
In the same year, Thanikan Pornpongsaroj, a Palang Pracharath Party MP for Bangkok, was sentenced to a year in prison, in addition to a 200,000-baht fine for letting other lawmakers vote on her behalf during a House debate in 2019.
More recently, the NACC found three MPs guilty of fraud after they allowed other lawmakers to use their identification cards to vote in support of the Ministry of Finance's plan to borrow money to fund transport projects.
The PP lawmakers deserve praise for bringing the issue to the fore. Since the MPs have said they will cooperate with authorities if an investigation is launched, authorities should waste no more time and act on the petition for a probe filed by activist Srisuwan Janya last week.
It is hoped that the EC will also look into the matter and summon the PP lawmakers for more information. The agency should trace their phone records and find out the woman's identity, her political connections, and who directed her actions.
The EC cannot afford to drag its feet. Letting the case grow cold will only result in a crisis of trust that will adversely impact public confidence in our parliamentary processes.
