The Election Commission (EC) needs reform to regain its credibility after years of political interference and building up "connections" with politicians via its controversial training programmes rather than closer cooperation with the people, an academic says.
The call for changes to the EC, which was founded in 1997, was raised by a university scholar who says he has uncovered flaws in the EC in his latest research. The national election watchdog is overseeing the Aug 7 referendum on the draft charter and watching out for wrongdoing that could disrupt the military government-sponsored poll.
Pichai Ratnatilaka Na Bhuket, dean of the School of Social and Environmental Development at the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida), said the EC has committed some serious mistakes in the past which dealt a blow to its work and gradually eroded the trust that people have in the body to ensure that elections are free of vote buying.
Among the concerns over the previous charter was that it was decided under dubious circumstances with political meddling, Mr Pichai said.
As a result, it was determined that the term for the first EC was to be only half of the normal seven-year term, perceived as too short by many.
This ensured the EC, despite the fact the commissioners were respected and committed to their mission, was unable to establish a fundamental basis to ensure the independence of the organisation, he said.
However, the initial EC, set up after the promulgation of the 1997 constitution, was later praised for its integrity and political neutrality when it left office, despite the time constraints on its tenure.
Members included Theerasak Karnasuta, Yuwarat Kamolvej, Sawat Chotepanit, Gothom Arya and Jira Boonpojanasunthorn.
Mr Pichai said he admired the first EC for basing its decisions on unanimous opinions rather than voting by the commissioners, which reflected differences in their ideas.
Successors to the first EC were disappointed, he said, again over political meddling as their appointments were believed to have been influenced by politicians abusing their power through the Senate, which was authorised to select commissioners.
Mr Pichai said the second EC issued fewer yellow and red cards to election candidates accused of committing poll fraud and appeared to work in favour of political parties to such an extent that it violated laws. Three commissioners -- EC chairman Pol Gen Wasana Permlap, Prinya Nakchudtree and Veerachai Naewboonnien -- were convicted by the Criminal Court in 2006 for malfeasance in organising a by-election earlier that year, which benefited the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, led by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thailand had a new team of election commissioners in the same year, but the third EC was, in the view of Mr Pichai, too cautious in taking action and seemed to focus on jobs to expand its "realm".
Pichai: EC eroded its trust (Photo from Nida)
One consequence was that people began to have doubts about the agency's ability to run transparent elections, the researcher said.
"The EC was under the power of politicians and judicial figures for more than 10 years, leaving little space for the people," Mr Pichai told a forum on his research, which was financed by the Thailand Research Fund.
Teams of election commissioners in later years tended to allow people to take part only on election days instead of encouraging them to help also with election campaigns, Mr Pichai said.
When he looked into the commissioners' capabilities, Mr Pichai said he found some EC members seemed to act like "incompetent guards" looking out for irregularities at polling booths.
While some of these problems have not been completely eradicated, the EC made another mistake by organising the much-criticised Advanced Political and Electoral Development Programme, Mr Pichai said.
Among the EC's target applicants are scholars, media representatives and executives from private companies, but the most controversial ones are the politicians, he added.
"I think this is a severe mistake," Mr Pichai said, arguing that the EC has been unable to totally separate itself from politicians.
