Boonchai to try for Senate deputy speaker
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Senator Boonchai Chokwatana has declared his candidacy for the position of Senate deputy speaker, replacing Senator Nikom Wairatpanij, who was elected speaker in a peer vote on Tuesday.
“I have been a senator for four years and four months and I know and work with all 146 senators, therefore I believe I can work to coordinate all groups without any problems,” Boonchai said yesterday.
If elected, Boonchai said he was confident he could do his job well.
Born in 1947, he is concurrently chairman of the Saha Group, one of the country’s largest business conglomerates. He is also vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
He served his first term as appointed senator from 2008 to 2011. He formerly sat on the Senate committee for economics, commerce and industry. He donated his Senate salary and allowances to a fund set up for the welfare of Senate Secretariat staff and their children.
For his second term, he was nominated by the private sector and appointed last year to serve until 2017.
