Senate approves the appointment of a new Constitutional Court judge

Today, the Senate approved, by 140:17 votes with 22 abstentions, the appointment of Professor Chakrapong Vivatvanich as the new Constitutional Court judge, replacing Professor Nakharin Mektrairat whose term has expired.

During the debate before voting today, some senators proposed postponing the vote due to the candidate’s questionable s education background in political science as well as the absence of the opposition leader at the meeting of the selection committee on April 7.

Senator Pornchai Witayalerdpan argued that the meeting of the selection committee lacked a quorum, due to the absence of the opposition leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut. He proposed that the voting be postponed for 1-2 weeks for the sake of transparency.

Moreover, he pointed out that there is a question over Chakrapong’s educational background, specifically that he had graduated with a law degree, not in political science or public administration.

Another senator, Tewarit Maneechai, said that he had checked the professional background of Chakrapong in 2022 and found out that he was appointed as a legal expert on the National Human Rights Commission, but the technical papers that he submitted to the selection committee concern public administration.

Senator Wuthichart Kalayanamitr explained, however, that the selection committee, whose term has already expired, had already cleared the educational background of the candidate.