“Ice Cream” Parit Watcharasindhu reiterated that Wittaya Kamphuang misuses the institution, pointing out that a minister's father cited orders from higher authorities to block the orange faction. He spoke at length, saying he does not intend to point fingers for anyone to file charges under Section 112.
23 Aug 2026 GMT+7 Parit Watcharasindhu Parit Watcharasindhu, a party-list Member of Parliament from the Prachachon Party, posted on Facebook that the behavior of claiming to act “for the higher-ups,” seen repeatedly as evidence in the Senate election fraud case, is either a common expression of loyalty or a deliberate attempt to exploit people's faith to further personal gain and shield one’s own corruption.
One week after he presented audio evidence from a hotel in the Rangsit area related to the Senate fraud case, where the phrase 'for the higher-ups' was mentioned, even though Wittaya Kamphuang, Mayor of Phonsa Subdistrict Municipality, Tha Bo District, Nong Khai Province, clarified that 'higher-ups' here referred to the Election Commission (EC), many interpreted the full context of the conversation in the clip as Wittaya covertly invoking the institution to justify actions related to the Senate fraud.
If Wittaya’s meaning aligns with what many interpreted, the clip’s incident is not the first or only time such behavior has been heard from individuals involved in the Senate fraud. Gathering and analyzing witness statements and publicly available information reveals traces of similar behavior in several cases, such as:
1. The hotel clip involving Wittaya mentions 'higher-ups' twice: (1) 'We do it for the higher-ups; it’s a mission for them, understand?' (2) 'Whatever problems arise, don’t be afraid of the game because the higher-ups are [..]. Otherwise, the EC would have already annulled it.'
2. Witness accounts concerning a minister’s father and one of the 229 accused persons, who several witnesses claim was a main speaker traveling to lecture and organize ballot lists at several centers one to two days before the nationwide Senate election. Multiple witnesses also report that this individual frequently invoked the institution as a reason or excuse to persuade or instruct Senate candidates to cooperate with the scheme and vote according to the ballot list, such as:
(1) A witness from Nakhon Si Thammarat testified before the opposition whip on 12 July 2026 that at a ballot center in a hotel in Pathum Thani Province, the minister’s father claimed to have orders from higher authorities for the blue network to do everything possible to block the orange faction. (2) A witness from Phuket testified to the opposition whip that at a ballot center in a hotel in Pathum Thani, the minister’s father ordered all candidates to wear yellow shirts bearing a symbol on election day to show loyalty. The witness objected, saying it was inappropriate to involve the institution in politics or the Senate election.
3. A clip of Supachai Phosu, one of the 229 accused, defining 'blue senators' at a congratulatory event for elected senators. Supachai publicly stated that three senators from Nakhon Phanom Province were 'blue line' senators, defining this as because blue is the institution’s color and these senators are loyal to the institution. Some in society suspect that this display of respect and loyalty at that moment was merely an excuse or strategy to exploit people’s faith for personal gain and to shield their own disgraceful behavior.
“From my perspective, the outcome we want is not for society to rush to file Section 112 charges against those who misuse the institution, because legally allowing anyone to file complaints against anyone could lead to political harassment, which may harm the long-term preservation of the constitutional monarchy system,” he said.
At the end, Parit said he sees such behavior (if it exists) as one of many inappropriate acts in the Senate fraud scheme. Taken together, these should be sufficient evidence for the Election Commission to prosecute all accused parties in court for election fraud.