Seminar debates hurdles to proper Senate election process
Voting blocs remained the number one concern in the newly introduced Senate election method as their closed voting process could compromise on transparency and accountability in obtaining new senators, a seminar on the new organic law on the Senate heard.
The new Senate, which involves so-called ‘cross election’ among 20 professional guilds, could prove to be technically complicated, speakers at the seminar on the Senate, organised by the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) at Parliament, said on Wednesday.
Manuch Wattanakomane, a member of the committee vetting the organic law under the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), said that in the public hearings hosted by the committee, many people had expressed the opinion that there should be mechanisms in the law to prevent voting blocs from compromising transparency and accountability in the voting process of new senators.
The concerns arose as the election of the Senate under the new constitution would be done only among members of professional guilds who would vote for candidates at three levels – from the district to provincial to national level. Some people said such an approach was questionable when it comes to transparency as the voting lacked transparency, and was only among members of professional groups, not the people in general.
Another NLA member Anumongkol Sitiwetin said some people had instead proposed that candidates draw lots to determine the winner. They believed the entry qualification, which the CDC claims was strict, would already ensure suitable candidates, he said.
However, the subject was still up for debate as some people thought the Senate was an honourable house and they should have been elected rather than winning membership through a lucky draw.
Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, a member of the Election Commission, said that he agreed with the proposal in principle and believed categorisation of the candidates into 20 professional groups would make the house diverse. However, the official admitted that the process could be tricky and that voting blocs were not easy to prevent despite well-designed mechanisms.
The lucky draw idea might do the job but whether or not the method would bring the best candidates to the house was again questionable, Somchai added.