According to the draft bill on the Election Commission seen by The Nation, the EC and its provincial officials are authorised to launch an investigation into irregularities and pursue the case in court.

If enacted, they would be authorised to summon fraudulent people and arrest them.

This role has been strongly criticised as some political observers claim it could violate a rule on the division of power.

The EC is scheduled to convene tomorrow to go through the first draft of the bill.

Under the draft, the EC will comprise seven commissioners as written in the new constitution.

Five commissioners will remain on duty until they finish their terms as drafted in the provisional chapter. Two commissioners will be selected within 30 days of the law’s promulgation. No more than five provincial ECs will be selected for each province.

The EC could issue an order forcing state officials in other agencies to assist it in its work, and if they fail the task and cause damage, punitive measures could be issued against them.

Fraud informants

The new draft has also addressed a new electoral-fraud suppression fund that aims to encourage informants to help the EC keep an eye on electoral fraud and report such incidents to the agency.

Meanwhile, EC chairman Supachai Somcharoen said he would meet with the Constitution Drafting Commission today to discuss further the second House of Representatives election draft bill that the EC submitted.

Supachai insisted that the authority to issue a controversial “black card”, denoting a lifetime political ban for fraudulent winning election candidates, was up to the CDC to decide.

The new constitution has addressed the point under MP qualifications,

but it is not literally written in any particular section, resulting in wide interpretation of the issue.