Update April 24: The Constitutional Court on Wednesday unanimously rejected the Election Commission’s petition to have it rule on the calculation of Party-List MP seats, saying the matter is the responsibility of the commission.
BANGKOK — The Election Commission said Thursday it will petition the Constitutional Court to rule on how to calculate and allocate Party-List MP seats.
In a written statement released this afternoon, the commission acknowledged that its “computation may enable a number of parties with votes lower than the average [votes won by constituency-based MP] to obtain one party-list seat,” and will ask the court if the matter is constitutional.
The move came nearly three weeks after the March 24 elections, which triggered still unresolved debate on how to compute the allocation of party-list MPs.
The commission claimed late last week that only 30,000 votes are required for parties to be allocated a party-list seat, only to backtrack and said the matter is inconclusive as it met many challenges from political parties and pundits who have protested the required votes should be over 71,000 instead.
