Ketkanda Inchua, a Democrat candidate for Bangkok in the May 2023 general election, has become the first candidate to be given a “red card” by the Election Commission (EC) for involvement in vote buying.

The red card means Ketkanda’s rights to vote and to run in an election are revoked.

A similar punishment was also applied to her campaign assistant Duangruedee Pansomton, who the EC’s investigation found had gathered a list of voters and paid money in exchange for their votes for Ketkanda in the election.

The EC’s statement stated that the people Duangruedee contacted to gather the list and buy their votes filed a complaint against Ketkanda.

While the investigation and evidence did not prove that Ketkanda had met with or talked directly to people to buy their votes, but Duangruedee was her assistant and, therefore, she must have been aware of what her assistant was doing.

Ketkanda lost to Pimkarn Kiratiwirapakorn of Move Forward party.