Instead, the Election Commission carried on as usual, proposing to hold a fresh general election on October 22 as if nothing had happened to their credibility as a constitutionally-mandated independent agency, which has in fact hit rock bottom. It appears that no amount of public humiliation will make the three remaining commissioners realise their mistakes or shame them into stepping down voluntarily over their failure to live up to the responsibility of their high office.

They instead have gone about their business, saying their latest proposal of holding the new election on October 22 would give politicians the chance to switch parties, and thus enable the political system to realign itself. The ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, which has the power to issue the requisite royal decree to fix the election date, has tentatively agreed to the idea.

The Constitution says that candidates for the House of Representatives must have been members of the party they are representing for at least 90 days to be eligible to contest the election. Under the EC's proposal, all prospective MP candidates could take advantage of the opportunity to switch allegiance between now and the proposed election date, which is more than four months away.

At face value, the idea seems to meet a demand made by disaffected elements within the Thai Rak Thai Party as well as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The Alliance led a successful campaign to force Thaksin to pass up the chance to be prime minister after the controversial April 2 election, which has since been nullified by the Constitution Court.

It remains to be seen whether the idea to get around the Constitution's 90-day party membership rule will prove to be a boon or a bane for Thai Rak Thai Party and its opposition rivals.

But the advantage of a late election could swing both ways. There is a possibility that the cash-rich Thai Rak Thai Party could gain because that would allow it to head-hunt promising MP candidates from opposition parties, and thus boost its advantage. Or it could lead to the creation of several new, small parties that would chip away at the political base of existing major opposition parties, thereby weakening them and reducing their effectiveness as a parliamentary opposition.

The EC continues to hamper the best efforts of the chiefs of the Constitution Court, Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court to break multiple deadlocks and pave the way for a free and fair election. An election sorely needed to produce a provisional government that will implement thorough constitutional reform designed to rid Thai politics of the culture of corruption and deceit with which the Thaksin government allegedly used to dominate Thai politics.

Over the past few weeks, the country's three highest courts have repeatedly chastised the Election Commission for several unconstitutional acts, incompetence and blatant bias in favour of the Thai Rak Thai Party in the way they organised the April 2 general election.

EC chief Vasana and his colleagues Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien continue to cling stubbornly to their positions. It boggles the mind how these commissioners, whose personal integrity and credibility have been widely questioned by the public, can find justification for pretending to be continuing to do their duty.

The commissioners' claim is that they decided to stay on for the time being to complete unfinished work, even though they and everyone else in the country know that whatever they do is of little consequence now that they no longer have the confidence of the public. The longer they stay on, the more disgrace they bring upon themselves and the more they become a dead weight that prolongs the political crisis and delays the much-needed political reform.