The Pheu Thai Party has slammed the Election Commission's plan to redraw electoral constituency boundaries ahead of the next elections, calling it confusing and potentially against existing laws on elections.
The opposition party said it will lodge a petition against the EC's proposed methods to redraw the boundaries, urging the election body to immediately review the models.
Constituency boundaries in Bangkok, for instance, would be determined using eight different methods, only five of which had been used in the past, said Pheu Thai MP for Bangkok and party spokeswoman, Theerarat Samrejvanich.
Models 6-8, she claimed, contravened the recently amended organic law on election of MPs.
Pheu Thai and other parties disagreed with the redrawn boundaries, which will require voters to travel long distances to vote outside their familiar polling areas.
She added the confusion was the result of a faulty redrawing work which is inconsistent with the local demographic landscape.
"This may result in a large number of spoiled ballot papers which isn't good for democracy.
"So, the EC better take them back to the drawing board and make them more realistic and lawful," she said.
Three of the previous redrawing models were most suited for Bangkok, said Vicharn Minchainant, chief of Pheu Thai's Bangkok election operations centre, citing what he claimed to be findings from a party survey of public opinion on all eight models proposed by the EC.
At least, if the three models had been followed in dividing up the constituencies, the boundaries of 25 out of 30 constituencies in the capital would not need to be redrawn, he said.
Supaporn Kongpanyawut, a Pheu Thai MP for Bangkok, accused the EC of violating Section 29 of the organic law on the election of MPs, saying the election regulator should stick to its past method of redrawing constituencies.
Phasicharoen district, which she represents, is now split into three smaller constituencies.
