A Supreme Court president-led panel appointed to select new Election Commission members have resolved to pick five qualified experts, including a university scholar and a high-ranking official, to join the seven-member EC.
Its decision completes a process to find all commissioners after the assembly of the Supreme Court judges insisted on nominating two judges under its quota though they were earlier rejected by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).
Pakorn
The panel, led by Supreme Court President Cheep Jullamon, has selected five out of 24 candidates after examining their qualifications and probing them on their aspirations for the job, a source close to the selection said yesterday.
Two of them are Santhat Siriananphaibun, lecturer of environmental technology of King Mongkut's University of Technology (Thon Buri campus), and Somchai Channarongkun, Agricultural Extension Department chief.
Another two are former state officials -- Itthiphon Buprakhong, former chief of the Treaties and Legal Affairs division at the Foreign Ministry and former Thai ambassador to the Netherlands, and Phirasak Hinmueangkao, a former governor of five provinces.
The last one is Thawatchai Thoetphaothai, a former member of now-defunct National Reform Steering Assembly. Former EC member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said the group lacked diversity. The new group seems to him as a "place for retired officers", he said.
Chatchai Janpraisri, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Pakorn Mahannop, a judge of the Supreme Court, make up the list of all seven EC nominees expected to be discussed by the NLA next week.
