Senate approves one new election commissioner, rejects another

Thailand’s Senate approved the nomination of Chirut Visarnchit, former director-general of the Land Transport Department, as a new election commissioner today, by a vote of 144:1 votes, with 26 abstentions.

He will replace outgoing commissioner, Lertviroj Kowattana, whose term has expired.

The Senate also rejected the nomination of Monthon Sudprasert, former director-general of Public Works and Town & City Planning, by 102 votes against, 9 in favour and 57 abstentions.

The Senate’s rejection of Monthon means that Thitichet Nutchanat, whose term has expired, will continue to perform his duty as a caretaker election commissioner until a replacement is approved.

The Senate’s approval of the new election commissioner coincides with declining public trust and confidence in the credibility of the incumbent Election Commission over its handling of the February 8 general election, especially the use of QR and barcodes on the ballot papers,

Critics claim that the codes enable the tracing of ballots to individual voters, as well as identifying for which parties and election candidates they voted. This would mean that the ballot casting was not secret, as required by the Constitution.

Some politicians have accused the Election Commission of committing malfeasance in office, as defined in Section 157 of the Criminal Code.

Other protesters have sought a ruling from the Constitutional Court, through the ombudsman, to determine the legitimacy of the coded ballots and whether the election should be nullified.

The EC is comprised of seven members and their term in office is seven years.