Prayut said he had his road map and it was not the Election Commission (EC)’s job to say when the election would be held and nor was it the EC’s duty to tell the government what to do

Somchai had recently said in a news show that the election could be held in late September or October next year, if the interpretation of |law indicates that an election will have to be completed within five months once the organic laws are completed.

He was explaining why it would not be a good idea to reset the EC to square one at the moment.

The new commissioners would find it difficult to organise an election in such a limited time, Somchai said.

Prayut responded by saying that the Election Commission’s reset plan would be handled by other related agencies.

In a related development, chief charter drafter Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday that the selection of senators could include preliminary screening before professionals or social groups select their representatives for the Senate.

The new constitution that passed the public referendum early last month has not specified the |selection method.

He added that any method was acceptable provided it can prevent vote-blocs and electoral fraud.

The chief drafter said that, in spirit, the process of selecting |senators from among professional guilds or social groups remained unchanged.

Meechai’s remark came after the EC submitted a new organic law to the Constitution Drafting Commission on acquiring senators.

It said that 50 out of 250 senators during the first five years would be selected from the 200 candidates shortlisted by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), while the remaining 200 would be |selected from the 400 names |prepared by the NCPO appointed committee.

An independent fraud inspection committee made up of people from outside the EC has also been |proposed.