A total of 2,746 senator candidates will choose 200 among themselves at the national round of cross-elections among professional groups on Thursday, according to the Election Commission.
The National Council for Peace and Order will subsequently pick 50 of the 200 as senators and another 50 as substitutes, according to the constitution.
EC secretary-general Charoongvit Poomma on Monday revealed the official results of countrywide cross-elections at the provincial level on Saturday.
- Earlier report: 2,800 senator candidates chosen ahead of final round
He said of the 2,746 successful candidates at the provincial level, 2,294 run independently while 452 were recommended by their professional groups.
They will choose 200 among themselves on Thursday -- 10 for each group and each type.
There are two types of candidates -- independent runners and those recommended by their professional groups. Each type consists of 10 groups.
The 10 groups are:
- public administration and security;
- law and judicial process;
- education and public health;
- agriculture, forestry and fishing;
- Staff or employees of non-government, labourers and independent professions;
- environment, city planning, real estate and utilities; natural resources, energy, science, technology, communication and innovation;
- small and medium-sized enterprises and tourism
- women, senior citizens, handicapped people, ethnic or identity groups, civil society groups and public benefit organisation;
- arts, culture, music, performances and entertainment, sports, mass media and literature;
- others
The major problems faced to date during the cross-elections have been that the candidates failed to report themselves by 9am and bad ballots since English numbers are to be used on the ballots instead of Thai numbers, Mr Charoongvit said.
“Besides, for several groups, the votes tied at 2-2 and a draw was used to choose the winners as stipulated by law,” he added.
