Supreme Court picks rejected judges again

The Supreme Court yesterday selected two judges who had been earlier rejected by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) as candidates for the Election Commission (EC) under its quota.

Chatchai Janpraisri, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Pakorn Mahannop, a judge of the Supreme Court, were chosen from five applicants by the assembly of the Supreme Court judges.

The vote is mandatory under the constitution which requires the Supreme Court to pick two of the seven members of the EC. A selection committee will choose the remaining five members, of which the nominees need an endorsement from the NLA.

Mr Chatchai and Mr Pakorn were chosen by the assembly of the Supreme Court judges as EC candidates previously, but they were turned down by the NLA in February.

There were concerns in the previous round that the Supreme Court’s selection was not an open process. Speculation was rife that the assembly received a signal from the regime to shoot down the entire list to avoid legal complications.

The court amended its regulations to allow for an open vote to be held to select the two candidates ahead of yesterday’s vote.

The three other court candidates vying for the posts were, Kasem Kasempanya, a senior judge in the Appeal Court, Thaweep Tansawat, a senior judge in the Supreme Court, and Prapan Anaman, a senior judge in the Appeal Court.

Even though Mr Chatchai and Mr Pakorn were rejected by the NLA, they were not disqualified and could re-apply for the post.