BANGKOK, May 20, (AP): Thailand on Monday officially began the selection of new senators, a process that has become part of an ongoing war between progressive forces hoping for democratic political reforms and conservatives seeking to keep the status quo.
Hopeful candidates headed to district offices across the country on the first day of registration to compete for one of the 200 seats in Parliament’s upper house.
The power of the Senate - although limited compared to the House of Representatives, which is tasked with law-making responsibilities - was demonstrated dramatically when it blocked the progressive party that won the most seats in last year's election from forming a new government.
The senators were able to do so because of the 2017 Constitution, passed under a military government, which requires the prime minister to be approved by a joint vote of the elected House and the Senate, which was appointed by the military regime.
The Move Forward Party was opposed by senators who disapproved of its vow to seek reforms of Thailand’s monarchy.
The process of selecting the new senators will include three rounds of voting: district, provincial and national.
Unlike the elected lower house legislators, the senators will be chosen by their fellow applicants, competing in 20 categories such as occupation or social position, including women, the elderly and the disabled.
The final results are expected to be announced in July.
The selection process in the Constitution is so complicated and unclear that critics say it was deliberately designed to discourage public participation. Critics say the Constitution also allows the state bureaucracy to hold more power than directly elected political officeholders.