The Criminal Court is set for an historic verdict today that could change Thailand's political landscape ahead of the October 15 general election. It will rule on a criminal charge against the three remaining Election Commission (EC) members related to their controversial handling of the April 2 general election, which was later nullified by the Constitution Court.

The EC is widely seen as a major obstacle to resolving the political crisis. But the pressure may well be getting to those in the spotlight.

A source revealed that EC commissioner Virachai Naewboonnien planned to skip today's court ruling by attempting to get a medical certificate to support a claim for his absence. But a doctor reportedly refused to give him one.

Despite the refusal, the source said Virachai insisted he would go for a blood test at Chulalongkorn Hospital's Promphan Building - which normally tends to kidney-disease patients - at 8am today.

The court is scheduled to read its verdict at 10am.

Another source said if Virachai is absent, the court could decide to postpone the reading of its verdict.

Virachai and his colleagues EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp and commissioner Prinya Nakchudtree are under intense pressure, as they could be jailed for up to a week.

Today's verdict stems from a lawsuit filed by Democrat Party deputy secretary-general Thaworn Senniam, which accused the three EC members of negligence of duty.

Thaworn alleged the EC arranged the April 23 repeat vote in constituencies where lone candidates could not overcome the rule requiring a minimum of 20 per cent of total votes to declare victory - without a royal decree to endorse the repeat vote.

He also accused the EC members of allowing some lone candidates who failed the 20-per-cent rule to switch and register in other constituencies for the April 23 vote.

Anti-government groups including opposition politicians, senators and academics along with the three top courts - Administrative, Supreme and Constitution - have mounted pressure for the EC members to resign, following the Constitution Court ruling in early May that the April 2 poll was managed illegally.

They believed this would pave the way for new commissioners to hold a "fair" election.

However, only one of the four remaining EC members stepped down. The three others have insisted they are innocent. This has caused them to face charges filed by their opponents, including the Democrats and the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Even if the three are found guilty, there would be legal debate on whether they would automatically lose their positions, given their right to appeal to higher courts.

Legal expert Meechai Ruchuphan argued yesterday that a court ruling finding the three EC members guilty would not be enough to unseat them.

"They will lose their EC status only if the court punishes them with a jail term and denies their call for bail if they make an appeal," he declared.

Meechai said the recently-endorsed election decree, which will be effective on August 24, would not affect the court's ruling. The three EC members were not legally protected from being prosecuted like members of Parliament during parliamentary sessions, he said.

Outgoing Senator Seree Suwanpanont said the commissioners faced losing their positions if the court finds them guilty and rejects an appeal for bail, because the Constitution has a rule that a commissioner loses his or her status if found guilty of a criminal charge.

EC public relations director Peerapong Pairin said, however, he had never seen the court reject appeals by defendants.

He argued that as the decree endorsed on Friday resulted from an amendment of the House Dissolution decree on February 24, the commissioners should be protected by a constitutional rule which forbids any attempt to arrest, prosecute or imprison them until the election [October 15] ends.

Peerapong claimed the electoral process would be damaged if today's verdict causes the three commissioners to lose their jobs.

Nobody could guarantee that a new EC would be transparent, he said, and it would be tight picking five qualified commissioners within the month before the election decree takes effect.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court has reportedly prepared a room with 300 seats to accommodate the crowd expected to come to hear the verdict. Additional police have been organised to handle any unforeseen incidents.

The court is treating the case with significance, and has appointed deputy chief Judge Charnnarong Praneejit to take charge today.