Authorities have been urged to finish probes into local officials who have been suspended over allegations of graft before planned local elections are held. The government has to make sure arrangements for the polls to come under the 2017 charter and it also needs to clarify whether those suspended officials committed wrongdoings, Mr Phirasak said. NLA representatives who earlier met residents upcountry found they support local elections because they are familiar with "casting votes for administrators in their own areas". In one order, issued in June 2015, 70 state officials including senior civil servants saw themselves purged from their jobs. The questions are: Are new political parties and new politicians needed and will old political politicians comply with national the reforms and strategy?

Source: Bangkok Post November 12, 2017 00:33 UTC