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Dear Sir, Thailand's crooked politicians still haven't learned that the Election Commission means business, and as a result a third round of senate elections may need to be held before the Upper House can actually sit. Meanwhile voter fatigue is setting in, and the costs are mounting. To no one’s surprise, 44 of the 78 suspended first-round winners were re-elected during the second round of elections to the senate, called by the Election Commission that had disqualified their March 4 election victories on the grounds of cheating. Further, as anticipated, voter turnout nationwide this time dropped substantially to about 50 percent from 72 percent in the last poll. A survey taken at polling stations revealed that many of them were not happy with the prospect of having to go back to the booths again and again, not knowing when this farce would come to an end. Not to mention the wastage of taxpayers' money every time a fresh poll is held. This puts the Election Commission into a very difficult situation. Brought into being by Thailand’s new constitution, it is clearly doing its job -- weeding out the crooks and the corruption that have traditionally characterized a Thai election and the composition of a Thai government. Constitutionally, however, Parliament cannot sit if the senators are not in place. As the commission has yet to endorse 78 senators out of 200, and with the next ordinary session of parliament due on June 24, it may not have the luxury of time to hold a third, a fourth, or more, elections to make sure that only "honest" people are elected to the Upper House. What then is the Election Commission to do? The obvious course is to get tougher with the poll winners found to have cheated, and instead of merely having them suspended should bar them from fresh elections and file civil and criminal lawsuits without delay. But this alone will not do away with the need to hold fresh elections. Suggestions are now being made that perhaps after a third round of election, the commission should simply skip over the winners who are suspected to have engaged in electoral fraud, and move the runners-up into their places. One of the problems here, of course, is finding enough honest politicians. Vested interests are so strong in Thailand, especially in upcountry areas, that lone reformers often run the risk of a brief encounter with two men on a motorcycle with no license plates. But it has to come about, or the country risks paralysis. Conceivably, the Thai government could function with an incomplete senate. But of course this is very much a trial run for later this year, and the all-important general election. That will involve 500 seats up for grabs, many of them currently occupied by some of Thailand’s biggest frauds and villains. This one could indeed run and run. Copyright (c) 2000 Asia Letter Publishers. All rights reserved.
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© Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine 2000
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