On June 14, Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the Move Forward Party, received a warm welcome from supporters in Lampang province. Serial petitioner Ruangkrai Leekitwattana continues his crusade against Pita Limjaroenrat, now requesting the Election Commission (EC) to seek a Constitutional Court ruling on Pita’s eligibility to be a Member of Parliament (MP).
Ruangkrai stated that he had sent his request to the EC via express mail on Tuesday. As of Monday, the EC had endorsed all 500 MPs-elect for both constituency seats and party lists, meaning Pita has been an MP since the May 14 general election. According to Ruangkrai, there are sufficient grounds for the EC to act under paragraph four of Section 82 of the 2017 constitution, which would lead to the Constitutional Court ruling on whether Pita had lost his MP status under Sections 101 (3) and 98 (3) of the constitution.
Section 82’s paragraph four states that if the EC believes an MP or a senator’s membership has terminated, it may refer the matter to the Constitutional Court for a decision. If the court deems there are reasonable grounds, it may order the person to cease their duties until a decision is made. Once the decision is made, the court will notify the House of Representatives or the Senate of its ruling. If the individual’s membership is determined to have ended, they will leave office from the date of cessation of duties, without affecting any prior action performed by the person.
Previously, Ruangkrai filed a complaint with the EC, demanding Pita’s disqualification from the May 14 election. He claimed Pita was ineligible to run due to allegedly holding 42,000 shares in iTV, a delisted media company. Pita responded by stating that he only managed the shares as part of his deceased father’s estate and had transferred them to other heirs.
Ruangkrai stated that Section 98 (3) of the constitution prohibits media firm owners or shareholders from running in elections. However, the EC decided not to accept Ruangkrai’s complaint, along with two other similar complaints, on the grounds that they were submitted after the qualifications of the election candidates had already been examined and approved. Instead, the commission established a committee to investigate whether Pita applied to run on the party list despite potentially being ineligible, which would violate Section 42 (3) and Section 151 of the organic law on the election of MPs.
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