The Election Commission is fully prepared to hold the upcoming election on February 24 next year and will be able to complete the registration of 12 remaining parties in time for the election, Election Commission secretary-general Pol Col Jarungvith Phumma said.
He gave the assurance in response to concerns voiced by United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship chairman Chatuporn Promphan on Sunday that the election could be postponed until May because the EC has yet to approve the registration of another 31 parties.
He said the EC had already approved the registration of 25 new political parties out of 37 applications, leaving only 12 – not 31 as claimed by Chatuporn – which still need to be examined by officials concerned.
He noted that some of the parties which applied for registration had just submitted the required documents on November 7, but gave an assurance that officials had been speeding up their work to complete the registration before the election.
The EC secretary-general said the legal status of a political party takes effect as soon as the registrar approves its registration.
