People’s Party MP candidate sues Thai woman for staging vote-buying
A parliamentary candidate from the People’s Party in Saraburi province announced legal action against a woman who admitted staging a fake vote-buying incident to attract attention on social media.
The controversy began on Monday, January 12, when a Thai woman posted a photo on her Facebook account, Rungnapa Kotphuthorn. The image showed a 1,000-baht banknote placed together with a election campaign leaflet from a People’s Party MP candidate, wedged between a wooden door and its frame.
In the caption, the woman wrote…
“Awesome! Return home to see this. Just kidding. Don’t be drama.”
She also tagged the location as Thap Sai sub-district, Pong Namron district, Chanthaburi province.
The orange colour theme on the leaflet, combined with the tagged location, quickly led to accusations of vote-buying against Pairoj Buapuean, a People’s Party Member of Parliament (MP) candidate in the area. Online users demanded an explanation, accusing him of allegedly offering 1,000 baht in exchange for votes.
Pairoj later took to his Facebook account to deny the allegation, insisting that he had never engaged in vote-buying. He said the woman later contacted him directly and confessed that the image was staged purely for social media content.
Although the woman deleted the original post and issued a public apology, Pairoj said he decided to file a police complaint to protect both his personal reputation and that of his party.
In her apology, the woman wrote…
“I posted this picture. I staged it myself. You can complain me. I admitted that I’m wrong and reckless. I caused the issue myself, so I have to accept the complaints. My account is public and opened for the complaints.
I would like to apologise to the party and everyone. I don’t have any intention to attack any candidates. I did it for fun and was too silly to aware that it would become this big issue. I’m truly sorry.”
Meanwhile, Yanathicha Buapuean, a former People’s Party MP for Chanthaburi’s constituency 3, issued a warning to the public, reminding them that election-related offences carry serious penalties.
Under Section 143 of the Act on the Election of Members of the House of Representatives, making a false statement to mislead others into believing that a candidate has violated election laws is punishable by up to two years in prison, a fine of up to 40,000 baht, and suspension of voting rights for five years.
According to members of Pairoj’s team, both Pairoj and the woman were summoned to a police station for questioning. However, police have not yet announced what legal action, if any, will be taken against the woman.
