New Senate selection process to get big push
250-strong chamber to be chosen next month
The Election Commission (EC) is stepping up efforts to help people understand the new system for the selection of the Senate between Dec 16 and Dec 27 — the first time such a system has been used in Thailand.
EC chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong said the most important part of the new selection process now is raising public awareness through the media.
The 250 senators will be selected under t he provisional clauses of the charter, with the EC responsible for the intra-professional and social group voting i n which 50 senators will be picked.
This will occur at three levels: district level on Dec 16, provincial level on Dec 22 and, finally, national level on Dec 27.
Of the remaining 200 senators, 194 will be chosen by the NCPO while the other six will comprise the three armed forces leaders, the supreme commander, the defence permanent secretary and the national police chief.
This new Senate selection system requires 1.33 billion baht in funding, he said, adding that the EC has been working for 13 weeks in preparation for these steps.
EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma said that one of the most important roles of the new Senate will be taking part in the selection of at least one new prime minister over its fiveyear tenure.
Prospective candidates are being advised against waiting until the deadline for applications draws near because they will be required to prepare and submit a lot of documents pertaining to their qualifications, he said.
Krit Auewong, deputy secretary-general of the EC warned the media against reporting the number of applicants or revealing their names before the application process is completed.
The law on Senate selection prohibits this information from being revealed during the application period to ensure all applicants are treated equally in terms of publicity so that no one can gain an advantage over the others, he said.
Unlike its predecessors, the new Senate won’t play the role of guiding House and that is why it won’t need such highly experienced people, rather ones representing all sectors of society, said Udom Rat-amarit, a former member of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC).
“Frankly speaking, it was a request by the National Council for Peace and Order that has shaped what the composition of the Senate will look like over the first five years which appeared in the provisional clauses, and is not what the CDC had drafted,” he said.
Under the 1997 constitution, the Senate was half elected and half selected, he said.
The Senate became fully elected later under the 2007 constitution; but, as it turned out, the elected Senate was found to have unhealthy ties with political groups in the lower House, he said.
That is why the Senate will now have less overall responsibility and serve mainly as a representative body for Thai society at large, he said.