EC members recount the past seven years on the job
Chanikarn Phumhiran
The Nation

PATTAYA: -- At a seminar held in Pattaya yesterday, Election Commission member Prapun Naigowit recounted how he was asked to step down before the 2011 general elections.

Echoing EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond and his other three colleagues who spoke of the pressure they had been under in the past seven years, Prapun said some people asked him to resign, saying that if he refused, he would be under heavy political attack.

The commission's seven-year term comes to an end on September 19 and Prapun said he expected the new EC to be appointed by the end of this year.

Prapun went on to say that he was very proud to have been chosen as an election commissioner, adding that he had done his work as honestly as he possibly could.

Apichart, meanwhile, said he was glad the EC had done its job fairly and honestly, overcoming many obstacles and opposition, such as the time when protesters gathered to burn coffins outside the EC office.

In fact, the commission's work has been so transparent that it has been widely accepted overseas.

'Election Court needed'

Sodsri Satayathum, the commissioner in charge of political parties' affairs and national referendum, said an Election Court should be established to look after cases so the EC could focus on organising elections.

She said the courts get more respect from the public because they make verdicts under His Majesty the King's name.

"Also when the EC looks into complaints, it gets pressured from all sides," she said.

Sodsir went on to say that the position of the political party registrar should not only be allocated to the EC chairman.

"I have also proposed that members of the Election Commission should be elected, instead of being selected by Supreme Court judges. Otherwise, it cannot avoid the [criticism of] Tulakan Piwat [judge-driven political changes]," she said.

Sodsri, who helped draft the charter, said she found the 2007 Constitution strange because it has a proviso that protects the 2006 coup makers.


-- The Nation 2013-07-20

Probably the worst job in Thailand.

Prapun went on to say that he was very proud to have been chosen as an election commissioner, adding that he had done his work as honestly as he possibly could.

He could have added 'in the face of blatant vote buying and corruption'