Thai EC upset over diminished role

[webfact]

EC upset over diminished role
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Election Commission (EC) chairman Suphachai Somcharoen yesterday urged the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) to explain why it wants to give the Interior and Education ministries the task of organising elections instead of the EC.

"The transfer of the power to hold elections to the Interior and Education ministries and to allow the EC to only monitor elections can be seen as a step back for this society to prior to the 1997 Constitution, making it difficult for the EC to work," Suphachai said in a special lecture at King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).

The EC was initially tasked with trying to resolve problems affecting the staging of elections, which was overshadowed by the interests of parliamentarians, he said.

One of the underlying reasons was that people have limited access to the full election process, resulting in limited access for able people to be voted into office, he said.

Suphachai said government officials tend to grant more benefits in the election process to business and political groups, enabling them to exploit the political system and facilitate their own agendas.

"The problem itself lies with individuals, not the law," he said.

In a related development, the EC will tomorrow submit a study report to the charter drafters on the pros and cons of shifting the duty of holding elections from the EC to government ministries.

In a meeting on Monday, the EC agreed with the finding that elections organised by the EC would involve non-government officials, and would give the public a chance to scrutinise the EC's election management.

If elections were organised by the Interior or Education ministries, the power would remain only in the hands of top bureaucrats who could favour their own kamnan and village headmen. The role of civil society would, therefore, be reduced, the EC said.

The EC will also propose several ideas to improve procedures, such as extending the hours of voting for one hour, to 8am till 4pm, extending the complaint period from 30 days to 60 days and increasing the advance-voting period from one to two days. These will be submitted to the CDC tomorrow.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/EC-upset-over-diminished-role-30252333.html


-- The Nation 2015-01-21

[Diplomatico]

"If elections were organised by the Interior or Education ministries, the power would remain only in the hands of top bureaucrats who could favour their own kamnan and village headmen. The role of civil society would, therefore, be reduced, the EC said."

Not much else to be said, really. Same stuff, different junta.

[brucec64]

This guy gets it. The entire point of all the reforms is to take the country back to prior to the 1997 constitution.

[Fiddlesticks]

Why isn't the election overseen by the Ministry of Commerce since elections in Thailand result in such large sums of money changing hands as votes are bought on such a large scale?

[chainarong]

A Department set up to organise and run elections is needed whether it is the EC or not is debatable but to hand it to other authorities that hardly can make hay without corruption being their second name is not a good look , the EC was primarily set up to control all aspects of an Election, including court action against election fraud, so why the change of heart.

[ramrod711]

"The transfer of the power to hold elections to the Interior and Education ministries and to allow the EC to only monitor elections can be seen as a step back for this society to prior to the 1997 Constitution, making it difficult for the EC to work," Suphachai said in a special lecture at King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).

Given the state of education in Thailand, I wouldn't think that the Education Ministry needs to be distracted by another role.

[Anthony5]

Why isn't the election overseen by the Ministry of Commerce since elections in Thailand result in such large sums of money changing hands as votes are bought on such a large scale?

You mean the monetary department of the Bank of Thailand?

[toybits]

Why even bother to have elections? It is just a waste of money...

[kotsak]

Why even bother to have elections? It is just a waste of money...

Agreed, since everyone loves and supports the dear leader

[h90]

"The transfer of the power to hold elections to the Interior and Education ministries and to allow the EC to only monitor elections can be seen as a step back for this society to prior to the 1997 Constitution, making it difficult for the EC to work," Suphachai said in a special lecture at King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).

Given the state of education in Thailand, I wouldn't think that the Education Ministry needs to be distracted by another role.

Sounds reasonable. With the 1997 constitution with the extended power for the government all the abuse of power began.

[Anthony5]

Rumors have it that there will be no future elections in Thailand, that but from now on the PM will be decided by poll, performed by Thai Researchers in Community Happiness Association (TRICHA)

[Thai at Heart]

"The transfer of the power to hold elections to the Interior and Education ministries and to allow the EC to only monitor elections can be seen as a step back for this society to prior to the 1997 Constitution, making it difficult for the EC to work," Suphachai said in a special lecture at King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).

Given the state of education in Thailand, I wouldn't think that the Education Ministry needs to be distracted by another role.

Sounds reasonable. With the 1997 constitution with the extended power for the government all the abuse of power began.

No, there was no corruption before then right? And what did it end up delivering? Eventually a majority government that had an absolute majority, thus creating a stable political environment. Problem was, it was corrupt as it had always been, and there had been enormous loopholes left and it got subverted.

Doesn;t mean that the concept wasn't correct though.

[rickirs]

Suphachai must feel betrayed for all the EC's efforts to contain and stymie the Yingluck administration, only to have its power removed and demoted to agency level. It will now have to find ways to keep its relevance, aka modicum of power. No doubt its members will suddenly become fountains of ideas and election reforms that will rely on its unique "expertise" to implement and maintain.

The EC's diminished role also affects it in times of an interim government. In the past an interim government needed EC's approval for any out of budget expendictures. It effectively blocked the Yingluck's administration from borrowing funds to payoff the rice farmers involved in the rice pledge program. As an agency under the PM's cabinet minister, the EC will have no such power over the government budget. It will become merely an organization of schedulers and "bean" counters.