The Move Forward party’s leader Pita Limjaroenrat was the target of three complaints from the Election Commission (EC) of Thailand accusing him of owning 42,000 shares of the media business iTV. The charges were unanimously dismissed.
The EC stated that the three complaints were filed after the deadlines and, as a result, could not be taken into consideration when dismissing them. One of the complaints was started by political activist and frequent petitioner Ruangkrai Leekitwattana.
However, the EC added that there are factual and behavioral details in the complaints that are sufficient to launch an investigation into whether Pita was fully aware when he registered to run for office that he was ineligible to do so, which would be a violation of Sections 42 (3) and 154 of the MP Election Act.
Pita stated to the media that the EC had not yet informed him of its decision.
The former leader of the now-defunct Future Forward party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, was accused of owning interests in media companies, and he claimed that his situation is comparable to that of the latter.
Though he adds that he is open to inspection both before entering politics and after leaving it, he is optimistic that he won’t wind up like Thanathorn, who had his parliamentary position removed and was barred from it.
