EC disappointed with tepid public response for senator positions

[webfact]

EC disappointed with tepid public response for senator positions

By THE NATION 

 

File photo

 

ONLY SOME 7,200 people have applied to become senators, far lower than the Election Commission (EC)’s previous prediction of 90,000 to 100,000 applicants from all over the country.
 

Observers see the low number of applicants as disappointing when compared to the budget of Bt1.3 billion set aside for acquiring 50 senators from voting among fellow-applicants.

 

The Senate, under the current Constitution, will have 250 members with a five-year term. According to the charter’s transitional clauses, all members of the first Senate will be appointed by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). The charter also empowers senators to vote along with MPs to select the prime minister after the election – if the Lower House is unable to reach an accord on the premier nominee.

 

Of the 250 senators, 50 are to be voted in by fellow-applicants, 194 nominated by a selection committee, and six ex-officio members – the commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the Defence Ministry permanent secretary and the National Police chief.

 

A former constitution drafter, Chartchai Na Chiangmai, said yesterday that he thought the low number of applications was due to a lack of motivation for aspiring senators.

 

He said many of them had opted not to apply because finally it would be the NCPO that would be selecting 50 out of the 200 shortlisted candidates voted in by fellow-applicants from 10 occupational groups.

 

“They see no motivation for them to apply. They are sceptical [and see ]that in the end the NCPO may not appoint them,” Chartchai said.

 

Another reason, he said, was the EC’s failure to launch a campaign to woo the public. A hundred of the shortlisted candidates come from individual applicants and the other 100 from applicants nominated by eligible organisations.

 

Sceptical observers expect the junta-appointed senators to side with a pro-junta political party when selecting a new prime minister after the next election. The pro-junta Palang Pracharat Party earlier said that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha would be its first choice for PM candidate.

 

 

A total of 7,210 people applied to be appointed as senators when applications opened from November 26-30, according to EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma. 

 

He said yesterday that 6,705 aspirants had submitted their applications individually, while 505 others were nominated as senator applicants by eligible organisations.

 

Of the applicants, 5,315 are men and 1,895 women.

 

Ubon Ratchathani province saw the highest number of applicants with 431, followed by Khon Kaen (377), Sakon Nakhon (296), Roi Et (267) and Chiang Mai (265). 

 

Four provinces had fewer than 20 applicants: Chumphon the least, with only 16, followed by Phang Nga, 17, and Sing Buri and Ranong, with 18 each.

 

EC deputy secretary-general Nath Laoseesawakool admitted yesterday that the number of applications was much lower than expected. 

 

“The number of applications did not meet our target,” he said.

 

Nath had earlier told BBC Thai that he expected the upcoming voting among senator applicants to be “the quietest in the world”, due to many legal restrictions.

 

He suggested that people in power did not want much publicity for the voting for senators.

 

“They just want a small group of people to vote among themselves. Then the NCPO will quietly pick 50 [from the shortlist],” Nath said.

 

The law prohibits disclosure of the identities and number of senator applicants before closure of the application process. Also, the applicants are prohibited from campaigning publicly. They can only submit to the EC their personal history, experiences and life achievements on one A4 sheet, copies of which will be sent to fellow-applicants in their occupational groups for consideration.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30359808

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-04

[leeneeds]

Preordained =  a divinely preordained plan of creation 

if the process was a raffle then maybe more participants would have taken part.

[Lungstib]

It was always the intention to keep the selection of senators within the circle of those already holding power. There has been no desire to let the public get involved with future government and Thailand will eventually end up with who the NCPO wants both as its leader and its senators. The constitution was craftily constructed to 'fix' this so called elected new government. Anyone expecting proper public participation hasn't been watching carefully.

[mikebell]

 

the budget of Bt1.3 billion set aside for acquiring 50 senators

I bet they still manage to spend it even though 'A total of ONLY 7,210 people applied'.

[Eric Loh]

 

I bet they still manage to spend it even though 'A total of ONLY 7,210 people applied'.

Could have save hell of a lot if they use jobthai.com or similar for positions meant for ex-PDRC, PAD or family members. 

[Srikcir]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

They are sceptical [and see ]that in the end the NCPO may not appoint them,”

Because they may not appear PRO-MILITARY enough.

Which is exactly what the Senatorial nomination system is intended to produce.

[Redline]

Most Thais have no faith in the government, and have given up on it.

[Dap]

8 hours ago, mikebell said:

I bet they still manage to spend it even though 'A total of ONLY 7,210 people applied'.

Any odds on that bet 

[Oziex1]

Disappointed they didn't get their 100,000 paying the registration fee or other negotiations.

[Oziex1]

Double post.

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Oziex1

[HalfLight]

8 minutes ago, Redline said:

Most Thais have no faith in the government, and have given up on it.

 

Quite possibly, for very good reasons, even if reasoning is not the strong suit of most Thais. Many foreigners are the same, except that for many foreigners, this whole farce is ridiculous in the 21st century. Most Thais don't have the luxury of seeing what life is like in even an imperfect democracy. Thailand is all they know, poor sods.

 

For a country which falls under divine guidance (or so the story goes), Thailand is a five-star, 100% cockup. If that's the best that Gods and Demi-Gods can do, then I'm pretty glad I'm a (newly become) atheist.

 

 

[Redline]

20 minutes ago, HalfLight said:

 

Quite possibly, for very good reasons, even if reasoning is not the strong suit of most Thais. Many foreigners are the same, except that for many foreigners, this whole farce is ridiculous in the 21st century. Most Thais don't have the luxury of seeing what life is like in even an imperfect democracy. Thailand is all they know, poor sods.

 

For a country which falls under divine guidance (or so the story goes), Thailand is a five-star, 100% cockup. If that's the best that Gods and Demi-Gods can do, then I'm pretty glad I'm a (newly become) atheist.

 

 

I’m in your club/tribe/clan

[chama]

16 hours ago, webfact said:

He said many of them had opted not to apply because finally it would be the NCPO that would be selecting 50 out of the 200 shortlisted candidates voted in by fellow-applicants from 10 occupational groups.

So why waste your time since everything election related has been scripted and all that is left is for the fall guys to play the roles.

[bangrak]

Please, EC, don't add hypocrisy to fake, as if you don't know that only the confirmed pawns of the NCPO, the list of must already have been finalised and approved by the dictator and his aeropage of coupist generals, make a chance to become a senator...

Spare us the BS, it's all pre-arranged, so why would 30,000 come up for the functions, lose quite a bit of face, ...while it's all just about, maybe, getting a call telling: 'Somchai, you showed you're ready to betray everybody and everything, so you're worthy of becoming one of us, time for you to become an 'applicant', welcome senator', LOL!

Of course, 30,000 would have sound a bit less un-democratic, but why would you care, EC? You have as much credibility as the NACC. Even allowed to break as many eggs as you want, you prove unable to make an omelet, and need the lightning power of a dictator's 44 decree to re-divide the territory into voting districts favourable to lackeys of the generals, how lame must you be, EC...? Who needs you, except the wrong people?