As the Senate is another mechanism to pass laws, perform many checks on the House of Representatives and appoint committees to manage independent organisations, voters should make a careful choice.

Candidates with affiliations to political parties should be avoided.

Nominees show vision

Ten nominee commissioners for the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) will speak of their vision for the body and the selecting committee will chose five to be NCCC candidates.

The five nominees will be added to the 13 already selected. The final 18 will be proposed to the Senate for nine commissioner positions.

Decision time for EC

The Central Administrative Court will decide this week whether to hear a case against the Election Commission over its decision to accept new candidates in a second round of voting in 38 constituencies.

If the court accepts the case filed by the Democrats it will have to issue an injunction against Sunday's by-elections in constituencies where candidates ran unopposed on April 2 but failed to receive 20 per cent of the vote.

Democrats to rally

The Democrat Party will hold a major rally in Songkhla on Friday ahead of Sunday's by-election, as the province is one of the most problematic for the Thai Rak Thai Party.

Seven of the eight constituencies in the province will hold by-elections as Thai Rak Thai candidates who ran unopposed failed to win 20 per cent of eligible votes on April 2.

Banharn speaks out

On Saturday, Chat Thai Party leader Banharn Silpa-archa will give a speech on the party's direction during this period of political change. He will speak at the party assembly at the Miracle Grand Hotel.