Thailand prepares to hand over to new Senate

Today, July 11th, 200 Thai senators elected in the June 26th Senate elections began registering and appearing at the Senate headquarters, marking the first steps in the power transition process between the previous Senate, whose members were largely appointed, and the new Senate, which is elected.

Hundreds of international observers and citizens participated in monitoring the Thai Senate election.

The registration and appearance of the Senators took place on July 11, 12, and 15. Prior to that, on the evening of July 10, the Royal Thai Government Gazette published the official list of 200 Senators following the Senate election held on June 26.

The official list of Senators was announced after the Thai National Election Commission (ECT) reviewed dozens of complaints and lawsuits related to the list of 200 Senators.

Accordingly, a Senator from the media group, elected in the June 26 election, was suspended by the ECT, and a delegate from the media group who received the highest number of votes on the alternate list was promoted by the ECT to the list of 200 full Senators.

With three rounds of elections, including district/county level on June 9th, provincial/city level on June 16th, and national level on June 26th, the Thai Senate election, with 46,715 qualified candidates, elected 200 senators.

The Thai Senate election is considered one of the most complex elections, as candidates vote for each other in groups and then cross-vote among 20 occupational groups: (1) public administration; order and security; (2) law and justice; (3) education ; (4) health; (5) farming and agriculture; (6) gardening, forestry, fishing; (7) company employees, hired workers; (8) environmental protection, planning, real estate, energy; (9) small and medium-sized enterprise entrepreneurs; (10) other occupations in group 9; (11) entrepreneurs or those working in tourism; (12) entrepreneurs working in industry; (13) people working in science and technology; (14) women; (15) the elderly, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities; (16) culture, arts, entertainment; (17) social groups, social organizations; (18) media groups; (19) freelance groups; and (20) other professions.

This is the second term of the Thai Senate since Thailand's latest Constitution of 2017.

Unlike the first Senate established in 2019, this Senate is not allowed to participate in the election of the Prime Minister ; however, Senate members still retain the power to oversee the government, participate in question-and-answer sessions, pass legislative bills, and appoint members of powerful judicial bodies in Thailand, such as the Constitutional Court, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Election Commission, and the State Audit Office.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/thai-lan-chuan-bi-chuyen-giao-thuong-vien-khoa-moi-post386797.html