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Published on February 20, 2008

Seventy-four appointed senators were endorsed yesterday while the other 76 members will be elected early next month at the polls.

Some well-known candidates failed to get seats while political pundits expressed mixed reactions about the result and the whole idea of a selected Senate.

The Election Commission announced it had approved the list of 74 candidates for the 150-member Senate as the first step before the remaining 76, each of whom represents a province, are elected on March 2.

EC secretary-general Sutthipol Thaweechaikarn said the appointed senators were from all areas of society, from farmers to an Army general and media

representatives. Although they were not well known, they looked to have quality, he said.

Of the 74 senators, there are 62 men and 12 women. Twenty-four are bachelor's degree graduates, 41 hold master's degrees and nine

have doctorate degrees. Eight are former members of the National Legislative Assem-bly.

An NLA source, who asked not to be named, said the selected senators were seen as the Council for National Security's representatives

and supporters to balance the Samak government's power as, besides the CNS-appointed NLA members, 15 were from the military and

the Royal Thai Police. Moreover, Prasarn Maruek-khapitak worked in the Surayud Chulanont government's strategic team.

The Senate is empowered to remove ministers, appoint and remove members of independent agencies including the EC and the Constitution Court, and scrutinise laws passed by the House.

While the elected 76 senators will serve a six-year term, the selected 74 will serve only three years before a new selection takes place, according to the constitution.

Meanwhile, some well-known candidates were not selected, including the former dean of Chulalongkorn Uni-versity's Political Science Faculty Sujit Bunbongkarn, former Constitution Court judge Sawat Chotipanich,

scientist At-ong Jumsai, ex-diplomat Suraphong Jayanama and anti-alcohol activist Dr Prakit Thawee.

Others not on the list included former People's Alliance for Democracy member Somsak Kosaisuk and Singha Beer tycoon Jutinand Bhirompakdi.

Campaign for Popular Democracy speaker Suriyasai Katasila, said too few people from civil society had been selected.

Suriyasai said only about 20 of the 74 were known in wider circles to have track records of contribution to society. However, he said there appeared to be no clear linkage between political parties and the newly selected Senate. He said there may be a possibility of the bureaucracy guiding the Senate now that virtually half of the senators were appointed under the junta-sponsored 2007 Constitution.

Manager Daily journalist Kamnoon Sitthisamarn and former October 1973 activist Prasarn Maruekapitak became two of the 74 appointed senators, but that drew strong reaction from political activist Vipar Daomanee, who accused them of losing their democratic ideology.

Vipar argued that people like Kamnoon and Prasarn, who are pro-military but formerly pro-democracy, were selected because they could represent the military junta that staged the September 2006 coup.

Political scientist Sirote Klampaiboon, a former May 1992 activist, said the newly appointed Senate meant that power was being clustered in the hands of unelected representatives who now shared the same level of power as the elected Senate.

Pravit Rojanaphruk,

Attayuth Butrsriphoom

The Nation