Judges of the Supreme Court convene to select 10 candidates for the new Election Commission from a list of 42 nominees yesterday.

Academics hailed the court for making the "best choices" before passing the 10 names to the Senate, which will decide on the final five commissioners.

Only three of the Supreme Court's 86 judges were absent from an eight-hour meeting yesterday in which they cast secret ballots to select the 10 nominees from a list of 42 candidates.

The new EC members may have only about two months to prepare for the next general election - if it is held on October 15 as scheduled.

In the secret polling, candidates needed to win more than half of the total votes from the 83 judges. The first five nominees were chosen in the morning session. They were Wicha Mahakhun, Wasan Soipisut, Apichat Sukhakkanon, Udom Fuangfung and Somchai Jungprasert.

The second five, selected in the afternoon, were Prapan Naikowit, Kaewsan Atibhodi, Sodsri Satayathum, Sumet Oupanisakorn and Nam Yimyaem.

"All 10 nominees have impressive records for credibility, so it won't be hard for the Senate to pick the best five," political scientist Sukhum Nualsakul said.

Thammasat University political scientist Somjai Phagaphasvivat said the nominees all have a positive image in terms of neutrality, because most of them are judges. The problem might be whether they're capable of withstanding the enormous pressures on the EC as it performs its operations, he said.

Outgoing Senator Panas Tassanee-yanond believes the Supreme Court picked the best candidates, so the Senate will not have a tough time picking the five commissioners.

However, former EC member Go-thom Arya is concerned that, with eight judges in the list of nominees, the new commissioners will face big problems of cooperation with local EC officials because they will all be new to the agency and will lack administrative experience.

"I don't think all 10 nominees were deeply scrutinised, which makes me worry about it," Gothom said. "The Senate should launch a new probe into their records before selecting the commissioners."

Meanwhile, Thai Rak Thai Party's deputy spokesman cried foul over the selection of Kaewsan.

Jatuporn Promphan said the recently resigned senator has been consistent in his stance against the Thai Rak Thai government. EC members should be neutral, but Kaewsan failed to show neutrality, he said.

Kaewsan has been critical of the Thaksin administration since it assumed power in early 2001.

Early this year, after Thaksin's family closed the Bt73-billion deal to sell Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, he petitioned the Constitution Court claiming Thaksin was involved in the deal and lacked the integrity to be prime minister. The court rejected his petition.

Another name reported to be "unfriendly" to Thaksin and the Thai Rak Thai Party is Nam Yimyaem, a former Supreme Court judge.

He recently chaired the EC subcommittee that investigated allegations of poll fraud against Thai Rak Thai.

His panel found there were grounds to prosecute the ruling party for allegedly hiring small parties to contest the April 2 poll and subsequent ballot re-runs. The panel's findings led to an EC petition to the Constitution Court seeking the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai.

After learning he was among the nominees, Nam said he could already feel the pressure, as the new EC is expected to lead the country into a new era of fair elections.

However, he was concerned about the EC administration and his ability to control EC officials who are still loyal to the recently convicted former commissioners. Some provincial EC officials will be removed, he said.

Another Thai Rak Thai Party deputy spokesman, Suthin Klangsaeng, said he respected the Supreme Court's selection of the 10 nominees. However, if the new EC fails to perform its duty of managing fair elections for the whole country, the court will have to accept responsibility for it, he said.

The selection process follows a Criminal Court verdict that found former commissioners Vasana Puemlarp, Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien guilty of improper management of the April 2 snap election.

[See the list of the ten candidates, click here]

Kesinee Taengkhiew,

Sucheera Pinijparakarn

The Nation