However, she said that the end of her term as auditor-general in December almost coincided with the expected beginning of the new commission term.

Meanwhile, Pornthip, who is acting director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, said she was ready to resign from her current post in order to be a candidate for the new commission.

She said a certain organisation had said it wanted to nominate her for the post and she was interested in contributing to the country.

A general meeting of Supreme Court judges will select 10 candidates for the Senate to pick five to fill the five commission seats, which have been left vacant with the imprisonment of the three remaining commissioners, who resigned on Wednesday after being sentenced to four years in jail on malfeasance charges.

Chaiyan Chaiyaporn, the head of Chulalongkorn University's Department of Government, said the new commission should be formed in a manner that it is not as bureaucratic as the previous incarnation.

Besides being knowledgeable in laws and regulations, the new commission should also have a deep understanding of the principles of democracy, he said.

This should rule out officials from agencies such as the military and police, as they would not really be thinking about upholding democracy but rather about being obedient to their supervisors, he said.

"The election commission's duty was to strengthen democracy, but it has just become a bureaucratic agency. Its working culture is to wait for orders. We need to fix that urgently," he said.

He added that the election might have to be postponed so that the commission selection process goes well and results in a good membership in order to prevent a possible repeat of the problems in the future.

There will be a seminar on the qualifications of the commissioners at the faculty on Monday at 10am, he said.

Outgoing Nakhon Ratchasima Senator Sawai Prammanee, who is in charge of the Senate committee to select the commissioners, said the selection might not be finished in time for the election on October 15.

"We are trying to finish the process in time, but it will be difficult to finish by August 24," said Sawai.

"The Supreme Court will present the 10 nominees on August 10. The Senate will then need one week to ask the government to submit the Royal Decree for the Senate's special session for royal endorsement.

"And there will still be more time taken before the Senate session can actually be opened," he said.

People should not comment on the ongoing commission selection process too much as it might put pressure on the Supreme Court, he said.