If any of the five current commissioners fails to meet the new qualifications, he would need to vacate his office within 15 days after the law comes into effect, according to the draft.

The provincial election committee will be replaced by seven ad-hoc election inspectors, two of whom are native to the constituency and the remainder from other provinces. Their tenure of office covers only an election period.

The new rules come amid strong opposition from the current commissioners of the EC and other independent agencies.

Law drafters yesterday argued that the new qualifications were stipulated in the new constitution, which was approved in the August referendum.

The initial draft consists of 72 articles in four chapters, excluding the provisional clauses. It empowers the EC to have a more active role in investigating and encourages public engagement in conducting a transparent election, the drafters said.

Drafter Pakorn Nillaprapan said that the new organic law on the EC sought to empower and encourage the commissioners to take active roles in investigating electoral fraud.

On suspicion of electoral fraud, the commissioners have the authority to hold or cancel the vote selectively or entirely, he said.

Commissioners can also suspend the electoral rights of candidates up to one year if they have sufficient evidence showing they are involved in electoral fraud, Pakorn said. Also, they can work individually in the investigation and are authorised to hand out orders immediately without the board’s consent, he explained.

However, he added, decisions to indict or suspend electoral rights would still have to be made by the seven-member board.

Pakorn said the new law also highlighted public engagement for clean elections. Public members are encouraged to observe the voting and campaigning and to tip off the EC if they find irregularities, he said. However, anyone reporting false information would face legal action, he warned.

The drafters stressed that the features released yesterday were still subject to change. An opinion gathering session will be held today and the drafters may revise the draft before submitting it to the National Legislative Assembly for deliberation, they said.

Meanwhile, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan said that it would take another three to four days before the recommendations for the draft organic law on political parties is forwarded to the CDC for consideration and possible revision.

“The CDC’s subcommittee on public relations and opinion surveys has to gather the recommendations first before forwarding it to the CDC,” Meechai said.

His remarks came after the CDC seminar on Wednesday to gather comments from political parties regarding the legislation. Politicians slammed the law for “undermining participatory politics” with its membership fees and stringent conditions imposed on political affiliations.

Meechai said the CDC probably would decrease the required amount for political party members to pay for seed funding.

“We will decrease the amount from Bt2,000 to Bt500,000 to Bt1,000 to Bt20,000 following the suggestions. However, the capital of Bt1 million has to be retained to ensure party survival during the election,” he said.

The CDC will also increase the penalty imposed on party monopolists who provide funds to parties on behalf of party members, but this is pending further discussion, he added.

Regarding each party requiring to have at least 20,000 members within four years, Meechai said the CDC would divide the period into two chunks – before and after elections – with different member number required for each period.