Lawmakers seek to curb EC’s power
NLA fears abuse of poll inspector rules
A group of lawmakers want to amend an organic law to prevent the rules on selecting election inspectors from being changed at will by election commissioners, said National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai.
The election inspectors have been newly introduced by the constitution to help the Election Commission (EC) monitor elections nationwide with the poll agency authorised to issue rules concerning the inspector selection process.
Mr Pornpetch said the amendment is being sought to the law on the EC because this group of NLA members is concerned that if the commissioners are allowed to have a say in setting the selection rules the agency may keep changing them.
The outgoing EC chaired by Supachai Somcharoen has initiated the process to select the inspectors as concerns are being raised that the process may be scrapped when the new election commissioners take office.
Mr Pornpetch said he has not seen the details of the proposed amendment but suspected the amendment plan has nothing to do with the ongoing selection process.
The NLA president said any proposed changes would take time to be approved and implemented because the amendment bill must undergo a public hearing process under Section 77 of the charter and be reviewed by the Constitutional Court.
Under the EC’s regulations on poll inspectors, which were published in the Royal Gazette in late April, the selection is carried out by a committee chaired by the provincial governor. It is made up of eight representatives from public and private organisations as well as from community groups.
The selection committee must shortlist 16 candidates and submit their names to the EC’s secretary-general. That list will then be sent to the EC which will whittle the number down to eight.
Each province can have up to eight poll inspectors.
The regulations also laid down what qualifications are expected of an election inspector, including the condition that they must not have been a member of any political party for the last five years.
Outgoing EC member Boonsong Noisophon has defended the selection process, saying the commissioners have to forge ahead with their work or they could be held to account for neglecting their duties.
The first poll inspectors are being chosen in preparation for the selection of senators, which will take place after a related bill is enacted, possibly as soon as September.
According to Mr Boonsong, the candidates for the election inspector posts were prepared by the Office of the EC before April of this year for consideration. However, the first EC nominees were rejected by the NLA.
“The [outgoing] EC has to keep moving forward because we are running a tight schedule,” he said. “And if we don’t make any preparations, we could be criticised for being negligent,” he said.
Mr Boonsong said he has no idea why the amendment is being mulled when asked if it was an attempt to revamp the structure of the selection committee and to scrap the selection process.