Phuket registration for National Reform Council candidates opens

PHUKET: Registration opened today for people wanting to enter the race to serve as Phuket’s representatives on the yet-to-be created National Reform Council (NRC).

Wannabe candidates can register at the Phuket Election Commission (PEC) office, on Amphur Road in Phuket Town, from 8:30am to 4:30pm until September 2, PEC Director Kitipong Thiengkunakrit announced this afternoon.

The NRC will comprise 250 members, Mr Kitipong explained (story here).

“Up to five candidates will be selected from each province,” he said. “A special committee in each province will select their own five candidates, and present those names to the Election Commission head office in Bangkok.

“If the EC approves of the candidates, the names will be passed on to the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO], which in turn will select just one candidate from each province to present to HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej for approval.”

The following are committee members for Phuket:
• Maitri Inthusut, Governor of Phuket
• Sakun Suanpan, Chief Judge of the Phuket Provincial Court
• Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Phuket office of
the Election Commission (and also by requirement a Vice Governor of Phuket)
• Paiboon Upatising, President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO)
• Warunee Tararattanakul, President of the Phuket Community Welfare Fund

“Candidates must be 35 years old or older on the day that they register and must be Thai nationals by birth,” explained Mr Kitipong.

“Other than that, all they need to do to register is present their ID card, tabian baan [house registration document] and provide signed copies of these with their application.”

However, Mr Kitipong added that people who satisfy just one of the criteria below are banned from applying to become a candidate:
• Are a monk
• Declared bankruptcy
• Fired from government office for corruption or abuse of power
• Found guilty of being abnormally rich, committing a serious jailable offence, abusing a position of power, committing a drug-related offence or operating a gambling service
• Banned from contesting an election
• Banned from politics or ordered to step down from political office

“No candidates registered today, but I expect we will have more than the maximum five required by the EC in Bangkok,” Mr Kitipong told the Phuket Gazette.

— Chutharat Plerin