Three constituency MP candidates from the New Economics Party yesterday petitioned the Election Commission (EC) to dissolve their own party for allegedly being dominated by outsiders who prevented it from freely conducting its activities.
Ulaiporn Traiwongyoi, Prayong San
gsriha and Kromkrit Supakdee submitted a letter to the poll-organising body, accusing party leader Mingkwan Sangsuwan of letting non-party members dictate political activities.
In the letter, the petitioners claimed Mr Mingkwan had given the party's 350 MP candidates 15,000 baht each to cover their MP application fee and promised to hold orientation training for them after their applications were endorsed by the EC.
They claimed the training was never held and a director of a real estate company, through Mr Mingkwan, controlled the party so it could not hold activities freely.
They urged the EC to investigate the matter and suspend the announcement of the party's vote results.
They also sought the dissolution of the party if the commission finds wrongdoing in violation of the Political Party Act, which prohibits parties from allowing outsiders to pull their strings.
Ms Ulaiporn ran for Constituency 5 in Sakon Nakhon, Mr Prayong represented the party in Constituency 6 in Surin and Mr Kromkrit competed in Constituency 6 in Roi Et.
According to unofficial results, the party did not win in any constituency but will likely get five or six party-list seats after gaining some 486,000 votes nationwide.
There was no comment from Mr Mingkwan as of yesterday afternoon.
Earlier, Mr Mingkwan said New Economics would join six other parties in a coalition led by the Pheu Thai Party to form a new government.
However, he failed to show up when the party leaders signed a memorandum of understanding three days after the March 24 election, leaving some people questioning his commitment.
