EC upset over diminished role

“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.