The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) passed its first reading of an organic bill governing the Election Commission (EC) with a unanimous vote yesterday.
The NLA also set up a 31-member ad-hoc panel to scrutinise the bill within 45 days.
The lawmakers voted 201:0 with two abstentions to accept the bill for scrutiny as Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan strongly defended the legislation.
Under the CDC-sponsored bill, some current EC members could lose their jobs if they do not meet stricter qualification requirements which, according to the CDC, are in compliance with the new constitution.
Most of the NLA members were in favour of the bill, but some cast doubts over the prospect that certain EC members might be disqualified when it comes into effect.
NLA member Somchai Sawaengkarn said the chamber was divided over the rigid qualifications.
One group believed the current EC should continue to do its job because its members were fairly selected, while the other agreed with the CDC over more rigid qualifications.
Mr Somchai said he wondered if the bill would be rendered unconstitutional if the ad-hoc committee made drastic changes to it.
Responding to the NLA's concerns, Mr Meechai said the bill was drafted to reflect the new constitution.
He insisted that the current EC members would have their qualifications re-examined and those who meet the new requirements would be allowed to work until their terms are completed.
The CDC chairman also allayed concerns about the bill seeking to scrap provincial election committees and replace them with election inspectors to help the EC monitor elections nationwide.
Under the proposed bill, each province would have five to eight election inspectors. Of them, only two would be native to the province to prevent local politicians exerting undue influence.
Concerns were raised that the inspectors, unlike provincial election panels, might not be well-enough informed to do their job properly.
"We'll give a public independent organisation tools so that they can do their work properly," said Mr Meechai.
"The organisation shouldn't hand its job to others or assign others to do the work for them," he added.