The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has suspended all elections of local councillors and administrators, with the majority of replacements when terms end to be selected from present and former government officials.
The NCPO announced on Tuesday night that elections to replace local councillors and their administrators whose terms had ended will be postponed. In the case of local councils that have less than half their members remaining in office, their terms will also end.
In Bangkok, their replacements will be selected by a committee chaired by the permanent secretary for interior and also comprising the auditor-general, the Election Commission secretary-general, the secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the secretary-general of the Council of State, the attorney-general and the secretary-general of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) or their representatives, and another member who can be either the head of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industries or the Lawyers Council of Thailand. These three leaders will select which one will represent them.
Replacements of local councillors and administrators in other provinces will be selected by their provincial selection committees.
These committees comprise the provincial governor as its head, the provincial public prosecutor, the provincial election director, the provincial state auditor, the provincial NACC director, the deputy Isoc director of the province (military), and one other person chosen from among the heads of the provincial chamber of commerce, the provincial industrial federation and the provincial lawyers' council. They will decide which one will represent them.
The selection of the replacements will be based on capability, merit, morality and political neutrality.
New local councillors must be 35 years old or over, hold at least a bachelor's degree, be a present or former local government official, a native of the province or head of a local, registered private or people's organisation.
Two-thirds of the new local councillors must be present or former government officials.
In Bangkok they must be former government officials at Level 10 or higher. In other provinces they must be present or former government officials at Level 8 or higher.
Local councillors must not have interests in any contract with their local administrative organisations.