Report: Election Commission set to endorse Thai premier-in-waiting

Jul 15, 2011, 11:57 GMT

Bangkok - Thailand's prime minister-elect Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to be endorsed next week, a newspaper reported Friday citing an Election Commission official.

Commissioner Sodsri Satayatham, who is in charge of political party affairs, said consideration of Yingluck would be completed Tuesday when the government election body holds its second round of endorsements, the English-language Nation newspaper reported online.

The commission did not qualify Yingluck, who leads the Pheu Thai party, during its first round of endorsements this week because of questions concerning the involvement of banned politicians in her campaign.

Sodsri said the commission's investigative arm told her that Yingluck did not need to testify or provide more evidence in her case, the Nation reported. If there was a case to disqualify her, they would require more information.

The case involves a campaign slogan for the youngest sister of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra: 'Thaksin thinks. Pheu Thai does.' It brought into question Thaksin's involvement in Yingluck's campaign.

Earlier this month, Yingluck announced a coalition lineup after election officials confirmed that her party had won 262 of the 500 parliamentary seats in the July 3 election.

But to become members of parliament, candidates must be endorsed by the commission, which only approved 358 during its first round.

The candidates endorsed were those who faced no election-related complaints, while the commission had concerns about the remaining 142.

The constitution requires that at least 95 per cent of the total 500 members of parliament must convene for the first time within 30 days of the election.

If the commission's endorsements fall short of those 475 seats after the second round, they are scheduled to meet again on July 26, less than a week before the 30-day deadline.