EC Guilty!

[John K]

There is no greater disparity in wealth than that between Thaksin, Suriya, Pongsak, the business leaders of TRT and the poor of Thailand.

Why do the poor love him?

Because he offers loans with no questions asked, paid for by the taxpayers of Thailand.

Has he ever mentioned the income divide? Education?( except for gimmicky one district one scholarship campaigns).

The 30 baht scheme is the only policy to have really helped the poor but the service is dreadful.

Thaksin's relentlessly milked Thailand, changed laws, censored TV, all for his own benefit but the poor can't see it.

Why do you think half of the 23 founders of TRT have left?

Because of disgust with Thaksin. They hoped for a new era but they realised they were helping the rape of a country.

I apologise for my strong words but many feel the same.

General Prem never used to speak so direct, but everyone knew who he was referring to in his speech a few days ago telling the Navy not to respect a man who made his wealth through cheating.

Siripon,

There is no need to apologize for simply stating the facts. I for one don’t view your words as strong but simply accurate and a very good summary at that. The poor may be unable to see what is going on simply because it is over many of their heads. For a person to grasp what is going on would require a high school education that contains some lessons on economy and world history. Not much of that is covered at the lower grades. So again to unseat Thaksin will involve a crash course for the poor and uneducated. I suspect for many of the people in Isaan this political issue is as difficult to understand as we would trying to understand advanced physics.

Thaksin is like a parasite. When he touches something he absorbs what was good in it and turns it for his own benefit, then it is discarded. A perfect example is the censorship.

[chownah]

There is no greater disparity in wealth than that between Thaksin, Suriya, Pongsak, the business leaders of TRT and the poor of Thailand.

Why do the poor love him?

Because he offers loans with no questions asked, paid for by the taxpayers of Thailand.

Has he ever mentioned the income divide? Education?( except for gimmicky one district one scholarship campaigns).

The 30 baht scheme is the only policy to have really helped the poor but the service is dreadful.

Thaksin's relentlessly milked Thailand, changed laws, censored TV, all for his own benefit but the poor can't see it.

Why do you think half of the 23 founders of TRT have left?

Because of disgust with Thaksin. They hoped for a new era but they realised they were helping the rape of a country.

I apologise for my strong words but many feel the same.

General Prem never used to speak so direct, but everyone knew who he was referring to in his speech a few days ago telling the Navy not to respect a man who made his wealth through cheating.

That Prem has a bit of charisma.....don't you think?

[Artisan]

That Prem has a bit of charisma.....don't you think?

My wife's words exactly...and she doesn't appreciate just how close to the mark she might have come!

[MrSnrang]

###### all of this political BS. Let Bangkok have autonomy so Thaksin's lot can concentrate on the rural areas like they say they're here to do.

[lukamar]

Why do the poor love him?

In the North and Northeast Thaksin is looked at as one of them, a Northerner. Northerners or Northeasters may not like that he's corrupt but if they have a choice between a squeaky clean Southerner or a corrupt Northerner they will pick the one they feel a bond to, the one that speaks their language and grew up among them, the one they feel comfortable with. Thaksin may have moved on a long time ago but to the rural poor in the North and Northeast it is like them seeing that they or their children may be able to also become rich and powerful and that the system allows that if it is not changed by those in Bangkok. It may be a pipe dream but it's the way a lot of poor think, it's the reason they buy lottery tickets, and the reason they work long and hard to give their children the things they never had.

I also hope the TRT, or whoever they may become, takes the election in a landslide which will make the opposition parties, one would hope, rethink their position on the North. The opposition parties are just now thinking about policies and platforms a bit late in the game by my thinking. A onslaught of opposition campaigning in September and October with just reinforce the thinking that they only want to to deal with the villages around an election and they will be back in Bangkok as soon as the votes are tallied. Much work has to be done by the opposition parties if they are to form a majority government.

[sriracha john]

I'm no great believer in Thai polls, but at least this one was done on a national scale and would seem to indicate that it will be a dog-race to the end with no "landslide" evident.

I would also add, on a personal level, that I was surprised, during my recent trip to every Northern province, by the number of Northern Thais who didn't care for Thaksin in the least. Across different provinces and across differing economic statuses, it was an eye-opening experience that he doesn't have the unquestioned support that several people here purports that he has.

Embattled TRT still holds edge over opposition: poll

Eligible voters who intend to vote for a political party in the next general election are split in their choice between the ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party and any of the three main opposition parties, with TRT holding a slight edge, a national survey has found.

Almost 49 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Thai Rak Thai to continue as the ruling party if the general election were to be held today, compared to 42.5 per cent who would support either of the opposition Democrat, Chat Thai or Mahachon parties. The remainder preferred other political parties.

The results of the public opinion survey by Assumption University's Abac Poll were released yesterday.

The poll was conducted among 11,091 eligible voters in 33 provinces of all regions, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Songkhla, between July 10 and last Saturday.

Noppadon Kannika, director of the university's research centre, said that the implication of the survey's results was that 13.1 million voters nationwide would back the ruling party, while 11.4 million would favour the three opposition parties.

He said the result pointed to what he called "political equilibrium", which could serve as a deterrent against possible abuse of power by the ruling party.

As many as 84.3 per cent of those surveyed said they would vote in the poll, scheduled for October 15.

However, in a separate question on whether the poll participants would vote for a political party or not, the survey found that more than one in four, 29.2 per cent, would not vote for any political party.

They said they would tick the "no vote" box on the ballot paper, as did millions of voters in the subsequently annulled April 2 general election.

When asked why, these respondents said they favoured none of the current political parties; that the party policy platforms were irrelevant to them; or that they placed no hope in politicians who were prone to conflict, according to Noppadon.

The three main opposition parties, which boycotted the April 2 election, successfully campaigned for voters to choose the "no vote" option as a means of an indirect vote against the government.

There were more than 10 million such votes, against some 14 million votes cast for the Thai Rak Thai.

After the ruling party an-nounced last week that caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would lead the party into the next election, the opposition Democrat and Chat Thai parties yesterday declared their readiness to form the next government if they won enough support.

The Democrats aired a TV commercial on Saturday that portrays party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as a modern and capable leader who "gives the priority to the people". A nationwide campaign to promote Abhisit as a sound prime-ministerial candidate will be launched soon.

Meanwhile, the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plans to continue its campaign against Thaksin until he makes it clear he will not return as prime minister even if Thai Rak Thai wins the next election, said the group's spokesman Suriyasai Katasila yesterday.

PAD leaders will meet later today to discuss the group's next move if Thaksin remains tight-lipped about the matter, Suriyasai said.

He said that another mass rally similar to the ones held earlier this year was a possible option.

The Nation

Edited July 30, 2006 by sriracha john

[lukamar]

I'm no great believer in Thai polls, but at least this one was done on a national scale

Embattled TRT still holds edge over opposition: poll

Almost 49 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Thai Rak Thai to continue as the ruling party if the general election were to be held today, compared to 42.5 per cent who would support either of the opposition Democrat, Chat Thai or Mahican parties. The remainder preferred other political parties.

The poll was conducted among 11,091 eligible voters in 33 provinces of all regions, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Songkhla, between July 10 and last Saturday.

Noppadon Kannika, director of the university's research centre, said that the implication of the survey's results was that 13.1 million voters nationwide would back the ruling party, while 11.4 million would favour the three opposition parties.

Their national poll only included 43.4% of the provinces. That's not even a 1/2 national poll and depending on the 33 provinces included and the areas that were covered in those provinces the results could be skewed. Even using their numbers of 13.1 million for the TRT and the previous total of 24 million from April 2 - it's still 54.58% for the TRT and 47.5% for all the opposition parties combined. That differential of 7.08% is somewhere around 1.7 million more votes for the TRT. The TRT can go as low as somewhere around 12.5 Million votes and still win the election. You never know what can happen in an election but the only other possibility is a coalition if the TRT numbers actually fall drastically. Just who the coalition might be is anyones guess but if that were to happen I'm thinking the TRT will still be on the government side of the house.

[Martin]

I am no defender of Thaksin, nor apologist for him.

But it is a waste of cyberspace to merely rant against him.

Nobody else has come up with any policy that will win the North and NorthEastern hearts and minds.

When some political party comes out with a serious, believable plan to shift half of the economic activity out of the Greater Bangkok area and distribute it through the provincial cities, they will start getting listened to.

But that won't happen.

The vested interests in any hierarchy got to the top by looking after their own interests and disregarding the interests of the 'lower orders', and they replenish themselves with the same sort of people.

They may pay lip service to political democracy, but they work absolutely against economic democracy.

And, as things stand, they are entrenched so well that they would be able to nip any such truly democratic move in the bud. They have been doing it since 1932 and nothing much has changed fundamentally in those 74 years.

Little lurches have occurred and can be counted in the number of Constitutions that have been adopted, but (magic, magic!) had little effect.

However, I am not pessimistic for Thailand's long term societal future.

My guess is that the collapse of the dollar will take so much world trade with it that there will be a big exodus from the Greater Bangkok area of people who can re-join their village families, where they will be welcomed, fed and given work in the fields.

That will give the rural areas what the sociologists call a societal increase of social capital, or 'brain gain', and will even things up and, over the next couple of generations, help Thai society to cohere.

Thailand is very fortunately situated in that it can feed and shelter its whole population and still have rice to export in exchange for its necessary bit of oil for the tractors, trucks and buses. And that its people are not aggressive towards each other.

By the end of the century, it could be one of the most favourably-placed countries on the planet.

[John K]

The poll was mostly in the north?

[hammered]

Of course TRT will win the election. That has never been in dispute. The questions are - who will then be PM? Who will be leading TRT and what will TRT be at that point? That is what it is about now. That is what was about even way back when the first small demonstrations occurred and TRT were sitting with a monster majority.

[lukamar]

The poll was mostly in the north?

This is what the report stated..

"33 provinces of all regions, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Songkhla"

That looks like Bangkok, North, Northeast and deep South to me. Consider polling in Chiang Mai, the area I know best, you would get hugely differing results if you polled at Robinson Plaza, Baan Nai Fan in San Kamphang or the bus depot at Ban Thung Man.

Edited July 31, 2006 by lukamar

[sbk]

The poll was mostly in the north?

How did you come up with that?

This is what the report stated..

"33 provinces of all regions, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Songkhla"

That looks like Bangkok, North, Northeast and deep South to me. Consider polling in Chiang Mai, the area I know best, you would get hugely differing results if you polled at Robinson Plaza, Baan Nai Fan in San Kamphang or the bus depot at Ban Thung Man.

True, but it also could have been only Songkhla and no other Southern provinces. We don't know which provinces they polled as it doesn't appear to be listed.

So, just because they listed Songkhla doesn't mean the other 32 weren't in the North and NE.

[lukamar]

So, just because they listed Songkhla doesn't mean the other 32 weren't in the North and NE.

So what you are saying is, just because they listed Chiang Mai doesn't mean the other 32 weren't in the Bangkok area and the South.

The thing is the provinces polled and the areas in those provinces polled could have a great bearing on the poll results. They could be skewed for the Government or the Opposition we have no way of making an informed decision.

[Plus]

If the pollsters wanted to get accurate picture but had limited resources they would choose 33 provinces representing all regions equally (equally by population, not just geographically) then project these results onto the whole country. It seems that this is exactly what they have done. I'm sure they have some areas to improve on, but this is as good as it gets.

Martin, I disagree, or at least don't understand, your view of democratic development in the past 74 years (why 74?). There has never been any bottom up movement upcountry (if you don't count communist insurgency), so you can't say they have been denied, or nipped in the bud. All "good" and "bad" deeds have been done by Bagkokians, either elite or middle class. Sometimes farmers benefitted, sometimes not. Many of Thai PMs were actually country boys that made it. Chuan, Banharn, Prem - they all are not Bangkokians.

The latest Consitution addressed urban/rural divide and stressed decentralisation of government and development of grassroots politics and active citizen participation, including proposing laws benefitting local people.

However TRT, despite claiming "champions of the poor" title, actually strengthened centralised government and stiffled all local activism, it confronted all local groups that dared to disagree with TRT policies -Pak Mol Dam, Ban Krut, Thai-Malaysian pipeline - in the last case it violently cracked down on peaceful protest and some police officers were convicted. Community sponsored laws (like the one about forests) went nowhere and were either delayed or subverted.

Why is TRT still so popular and yet so hated? Perhaps the answer lies in "winning the hearts and minds" of people. They've certainly done that, but they did it for their own benefit only.

I don't want to see Democrats trying to "win the hearts" TRT's way which looks more like bribery to me. Like showering children with sweets.

Instead of giving people what they want, i.e. fish, I'd rather see Democrats teaching people fishing.

However, after five years of "don't worry, Thaksin will give you everything you need" attitude I don't expect people to appreciate the value of fishing overnight.

I also don't believe in "rural paradise" when wayward children return to their farmlands and live happily ever after. What about off-season when all these out of work farmers come to Bangkok and take any odd jobs they can find?

One thing that this country doesn't need is more farmers, it's extremely unproductive way of using human resources. In the US only 4% of population is engaged in farming.

[Jai Dee]

Mr. Chuwit is willing to clarify facts to the Criminal Court

Mr. Chuwit Kamolvisit (ชูวิทย์ กมลวิศิษฎ์), the deputy head of the Chart Thai party, is willing to clarify facts to the Criminal Court.

Mr. Chuwit will today make a better understanding with Chart Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa after he criticized the unofficial meeting between him and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra.

He said that he has not yet received a summon to appoint the investigating date on the allegation of violating the court’s jurisdiction after he visited the three former election commissioners. He said that he hopes that he will receive mercy from the court as he did not intend to break the jurisdiction of the court.

However, the deputy head of the Chart Thai party said that this case will not affect on the party’s reliability.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 31 July 2006

[Martin]

You are right, 'plus', when you say:

"In the US only 4% of population is engaged in farming."

And that is exactly why the USA is going to come very unstuck.

To produce food with very little labour input requires fertiliser and machinery inputs that are derived from, or use in their manufacture, amounts of energy that are just not going to be available in thirty years time.

In fact, they won't be available, at a price that makes that profitable, in five years time.

For what is feasible when the coal/oil/gas era has run its course, we have to look back at what was feasible before that era.

The Sukothai inscription read "Rice in the fields and fish in the water".

That rice and fish, with no need for heating in winter nor cooling in summer, is the strength of Thailand.

Thailand can live without downtown Bangkok.

In fact, downtown Bangkok can come to Thailand and be housed and fed. And, when the chips are down, that is what matters.

[Plus]

You do realise you are talking pure fantasy - no one is going to return to tiling fields, at least not until the world runs out of the usual energy sources and no alternatives are found.

Sukhotai era is gone forever.

In the hindsight people should never have left the land, but that's not how the world is developing. Some argue people should have never left the trees.

[Martin]

"You do realise you are talking pure fantasy - no one is going to return to tiling fields, at least not until the world runs out of the usual energy sources and no alternatives are found."

Fantasies are fantasy, until they come true.

When my father was born, the idea that there might one day be "flying machines" was considered fantasy.

When I was born, the idea that the new-fangled "aeroplanes" might one day be used to bomb cities was considered fantasy.

If thaivisa, you, and me are around in 2016, maybe we can take another look at this thread.

[jdinasia]

Of course TRT will win the election. That has never been in dispute. The questions are - who will then be PM? Who will be leading TRT and what will TRT be at that point? That is what it is about now. That is what was about even way back when the first small demonstrations occurred and TRT were sitting with a monster majority.

They probably won't get enough to be beyond censure though! and that is very good news!

[sbk]

So, just because they listed Songkhla doesn't mean the other 32 weren't in the North and NE.

So what you are saying is, just because they listed Chiang Mai doesn't mean the other 32 weren't in the Bangkok area and the South.

The thing is the provinces polled and the areas in those provinces polled could have a great bearing on the poll results. They could be skewed for the Government or the Opposition we have no way of making an informed decision.

Nope, but if they had polled just Bangkok and the South the result would have been very different. Are you already forgetting the non-results of the last general election?

[chownah]

What is the purpose of these polls? Take just this last one....why was it done?....other than to have something to put in the news media and be the spark for more argument and agitation. Other than this I really don't see any reason for them....do you?

[Plus]

When my father was born, the idea that there might one day be "flying machines" was considered fantasy.

When I was born, the idea that the new-fangled "aeroplanes" might one day be used to bomb cities was considered fantasy.

How old are you, Martin? Both my late grandfathers were born after the first flight, and they knew all too well about bombing cities.

It's interesting to virtually meet "back to nature" person. There are people here fed up with progress, but I have never ever met someone actually advocating abandoning it en-masse and returning to farming, and among all doomsday scenarios 2016 is the closest one.

If I hadn't read lots of your posts I would have thought you are completely insane.

Chownah, nationwide poll predicting election results is nothing unusual - everyone reads it, beginning with political parties. Nation journalists can finally claim that they were right all along about TRT gradual decline and Thaksin's popularity. It's not neck to neck yet, but it's no landslide either.

Previous EC banned all polls, maybe that's the reason the poll was conducted before the decree came into effect.

[chownah]

Plus,

The previous EC banned all poles? Do you mean the three guys who just got out of jail?...or do you mean the ones before them?

Chownah

P.S. I think that individuals would be more fulfilled and society would be run in a more sane fashion if a larger percentage of the people who run gov't's had a better understand and more experience of how nature provides us with our needs. To think this does not make me crazy....if I thought that those people were actually going to go get those experiences because they have come to a realization of their value....well that would probably mean that I was somewhere way out there on the edge at least.

Chownah

Edited July 31, 2006 by chownah

[slimdog]

Latest ABAC poll was carried out in the following places:

Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Lopburi, Ayutthaya, Chonburi, Uthaithani, Kanchanaburi, Rachaburi, Suphanburi, Petchaburi, Trat, Khonkaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, nongbualamphu, Nakhon Phanom, NongKhai, Yasothon, Ubon Ratchathani, Kalasin, Udon Thani, Chumphon, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani

source: http://www.abacpoll.com/index05.html

Margin of error for the poll was +/- 7 %

Other information from the poll:

Among those who intend to vote, nearly 30 percent said they would cast a “No-vote.”

Just under 57 percent of respondents said they would support the party with the best manifesto and the best politicians rather than vote out of loyalty to any particular party.

Of those who responded to the survey, 28 percent said the political crisis is the main factor determining how they would vote.

A further 17 percent said economic problems weighed most heavily on their minds, while 15 percent were concerned about government corruption.

The poll also showed that voters thought the government’s main achievements had been its war on drugs, followed by its crackdown on the mafia and its poverty-alleviation program.

Source: http://www.ihtthaiday.com/IHT/ViewNews.asp...D=9490000097436

[Plus]

Chownah, the guys who just got out of jail banned all exit polls during elections, and during campaigns the polls couldn't mention individual names or parties. They got around it by asking about "large party" and "old party" and so on.

I don't understand the last part of your post. Yes, the government should know how the nature provides us, or at least listen to people who do, but that's as far as I got.

The trend is there - less and less people will live in the countryside and engage in farming. Thailand can easily cut the number in half without any loss. The problem is how to engage this freed up workforce. Is it possible to move industrial development upcountry? Maybe they can build another Mahaput in Isan, probably not. There must be physical infrastructure in place, trained workforce etc.

If Thailand manages to build knowledge based economy than people won't need to live in big cities, knowledge is not a heavy staff that requires big trucks and roads, it needs connectivity, like fiber optic cables instead, and highly educated people. No offense to farmers, but it IS a rocket science.

[sriracha john]

TRT fears court will favour government foes

Former Supreme Court judge Nam is a major worry for ruling party

Key Thai Rak Thai Party figures are concerned that individuals who do not "see eye to eye" with the ruling party could be nominated as election commissioners, a party source said.

Meanwhile, just five names have been officially nominated by Supreme Court judges, according to court secretary Wirat Chinwinitkul. He declined to identify the nominees.

Senior Thai Rak Thai figures were worried individuals not in agreement with the government would be elected to the new Election Commission. The top party figures fear this would call into question the EC's neutrality, the source said.

These senior figures recently raised this issue with outgoing Senate Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua during informal discussions about the selection of the new commissioners.

They were particularly concerned about the prospect of former Supreme Court Justice Nam Yim-yaem being appointed, according to the source.

Nam chaired the EC subcommittee that investigated allegations of poll fraud against the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party.

His panel found there were grounds to prosecute Thai Rak Thai over allegations it hired minor parties to contest the April 2 poll.

It found this was done to overcome electoral provisions calling for candidates who run unopposed to garner a minimum of 20 per cent of the vote.

The subcommittee's findings led to an EC petition to the Constitution Court seeking the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai.

In addition to Nam, likely nominees such as Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka, Supreme Court Chief Justice Vasant Soypisut and outgoing Senator Kaewsan Atibodhi were also a concern for the ruling party, said the source.

These figures had reputations for honesty and integrity, as well as for not siding with Thai Rak Thai, the source said.

Party deputy spokesman Jatuporn Promphan said yesterday that while some people in Thai Rak Thai were unhappy with certain nominees, they were unable to influence the selection process.

Nominees will be named solely by the Supreme Court. The court would normally nominate just five of the nominees. Because Parliament is not sitting, however, the legislature cannot form its own selection committee.

In the absence of the parliamentary panel the Constitution allows the Supreme Court to nominate all 10 candidates.

Court secretary Wirat said that as of yesterday he had received five nominations from the judges. He expected more today.

The court would announce its list of candidates on its website tomorrow ( www.supremecourt.or.th ), he said.

A court source disclosed that among the nominees were Supreme Court Justice Wicha Mahakhun, former Appeals Court Justice Udom Fuangfung, and Amornsak Noprampa, a former Supreme Court secretary who was currently a bank executive.

Nam said yesterday he had decided to stand for an Election Commission seat.

"I took quite a long time before making up my mind. It's an honour for me to be nominated, although I know this is a big competition due to the possibility of a large number of candidates," Nam said.

"It depends on the Supreme Court's general meeting. I don't have high hopes," he said.

To qualify for EC selection, each candidate must be nominated by a Supreme Court judge.

A general meeting of Supreme Court judges is scheduled to select a 10-strong short-list on August 10. The Senate will pick the five commissioners from that list.

The five EC seats are vacant after three commissioners - former EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp and colleagues Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien - resigned last week after the Criminal Court convicted them of malfeasance.

EC member Charupat Ruangsuwan quit in May amid growing pressure on the agency over its handling of the April 2 general election.

The fifth member, Jaral Buranapansri, died in November 2005.

A group of university political scientists and more than 20 caretaker senators yesterday separately gave their approval to Nam and a number of other prominent figures.

Others favoured by these groups are Jaruvan, Kaewsan, former senator Pratin Santipraphob, and Deputy Attorney-General Prapan Naikowit.

Kaewsan said yesterday he had given his permission to a Supreme Court judge to nominate him.

The political scientists, gathered at Chulalongkorn University, called on the next Election Commission to serve two years only. A normal term was seven years. The commissioners should leave their seats after managing a free and fair election, the academics said.

Before completing their shortened term, the lecturers suggested commissioners proposed reforms for the agency. Among those should be depriving the EC of judicial power to allow courts to disqualify dishonest candidates.

The Nation

Edited July 31, 2006 by sriracha john

[lukamar]

TRT fears court will favour government foes

I said this before in this thread but I'll repeat it.

The supreme court is putting forward all 10 members of the new EC without any input through the normal channels of checks and balances as laid out in the constitution. If there is an agenda by anyone, and I'm not saying there is, then the Court would only have to put forward 10 people that had the same ideology and the Senate would have no choice but to select 5 of them. Walla... You have an EC that is completely dominated with a certain viewpoint. Everyone has said that the previous EC was corrupt and biased, this has the potential to be even worse. Everyone would agree that the new EC must be neutral. We will just have to see what happens and then decide.

[Martin]

Opinion polls are about as old as me (born 1935), and were started by a fantastic man called, I think, Harrison who started an organisation called "Mass Observation" in the 1930s.

Before that, nobody had thought to ask a representative sample of 'ordinary folk' for their opinion of anything!

The good thing about voter polls is that they get the participants to think about the democratic process, and the newspaper readers who read the results of the poll, likewise.

And that is something that Thailand needs.

Democracy came to Thailand in a strange way, in 1932, without having 'grown roots' and has yet to develop them. It is a classic case of the dangers of going at something when having the hardware, but only some of the software, and very little of the orgware.

I will answer 'plus' later when I have more time, because he has touched on something very big (but we will need a new thread, or the mods will have our guts for garters).

[Plus]

Yes, Martin, we were getting carried away.

How long will the newly elected EC function? Will it be replaced after the elections?

[Losangels]

TRT fears court will favour government foes

I said this before in this thread but I'll repeat it.

The supreme court is putting forward all 10 members of the new EC without any input through the normal channels of checks and balances as laid out in the constitution. If there is an agenda by anyone, and I'm not saying there is, then the Court would only have to put forward 10 people that had the same ideology and the Senate would have no choice but to select 5 of them. Walla... You have an EC that is completely dominated with a certain viewpoint. Everyone has said that the previous EC was corrupt and biased, this has the potential to be even worse. Everyone would agree that the new EC must be neutral. We will just have to see what happens and then decide.

Very good point made. I was wondering why those being selected do not come from common civilian rather from the judiciary, government officials, military or the police back grounds.