The National Legislative Assembly has "set zero" on the Election Commission of Thailand in a 161-15 vote on Friday.
As a result, the incumbent five-member EC will vacate office once the Election Act takes effect but will serve as the acting EC until the new EC is formed.
Whether the incumbent EC should serve out their terms is the most controversial point of the election bill.
The constitution writers' version of the law proposed the incumbent EC vacate office so political reform could start fresh.
Those against it said it was not in line with rule of law and would affect the organisation of the upcoming general election. After all, the existing EC had been screened and royally appointed by the 2007 constitution.
Besides, since the bill doesn't allow EC commissioners to be reappointed, the incumbent ones won't be able to reapply if they were kicked out today and this is not fair for them, they said.
Furthermore, a law should not have an unfavourable retrospective effect on anyone and a provisional clause can be added to allow them to serve their terms.
Those in favour of resetting the EC said it was not against the intent of the constitution and was for the greater goal of national reform.
Removing the existing EC members is necessary as the current EC mechanisms cannot get rid of local influence.
"The EC structure has changed -- gone are provincial ECs -- and its responsibilities and power are greater and more closely linked to crisis-solving mechanisms," said Tuang Antachai, head of the NLA panel vetting the election bill.
"We should allow new people to use this greater power. We can't expect new results from old mechanisms, can we?"
The screening process of the EC was also widely debated because it might become the criteria for the screening of members of other independent organisations.
Under the new EC law, the qualifications of the screening committee will be higher. They are required to exchange views and vote openly.
A new condition is the successful EC candidates must get no less than two-thirds of all screening committee members. If a candidate fails to get that kind of support, the screening committee may debate and vote again in another round.
If they still fail to get qualified candidates, the 90-day screening process will start over without the failed candidates.
In each province, there will be eight election inspectors free of ties with political parties. Five of them will be stationed in the province. The remaining three will draw to be swapped with the candidates of other provinces. Their duties are to monitor election officials as well as political parties and to report of election fraud to the EC.