Restore trust in the election

Restore trust in the election

If Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his four surrogate politicians in the cabinet refuse to do the right thing and step down before the election, they must at least stop their stream of orders on how to run the voting process.

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and the cabinet, both under the direction of Gen Prayut, seem to have got used to usurping powers specifically given by the constitution to the Election Commission (EC). From setting the specific election date to designing ballots, the regime is technically poking into matters where it has no authority. The result is an inevitable loss of trust that the election will actually be free or fair.

The regime's intrusion into the election process is ironic. The EC's powers are enumerated in the constitution written specifically to junta specifications.

Last weekend it emerged that the National Council for Peace and Order -- specifically NCPO chief Gen Prayut -- had ordered the EC to adopt a radical change in ballot design. All party names, numbers and symbols are eliminated. Only candidate names and their assigned numbers, constituency by constituency, appear on this design. The advantage to the regime-friendly Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) was obvious to all.

Here is the EC's denial that the regime interfered with election procedures, from deputy EC secretary-general Natt Laosisavasakul. "This format was proposed because the EC feared transport problems". The careful phrasing literally means that no person proposed this ballot format, it just appeared. But it didn't come from nowhere, and all reports currently agree that the PM's Office or the prime minister himself was the author.

Prior to that, the prime minister and two of his deputies have dictated the date of the election -- an enumerated duty of the EC. Arguably the most blatant misuse of powers came last Friday. The NCPO under Gen Prayut summoned political parties and the EC to the Army Club to get election marching orders.

It is a shame that the EC has not made any effort to stop the interference. Even the appearance of a huge roadside billboard touting Gen Prayut for post-election prime minister drew no comment from the commission.

The same piracy of powers has occurred in the government's treatment of another important and constitutionally independent body, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

Until now, the regime's obvious interference with the NACC has been cloaked in obscurity and deniability. Last week, Gen Prayut and the cabinet's own legal authority, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, blatantly intimidated the NACC over an important new tool in the anti-graft fight.

Like the EC members, the junta-appointed top officials of the NACC backed down. The NACC had already formalised rules for hundreds of new senior bureaucrats and agency directors to fill out assets declarations. Gen Prayut and Mr Wissanu ordered the regulations redone, even after they were published in the Royal Gazette. The NACC rushed to obey the military-backed orders, and lost almost all leverage to investigate high-level corruption.

These actions make a mockery of the duties of a government and its agencies to be accountable. Rather they indicate a very troubling tendency -- a government very comfortable with dictating laws and regulations from on high.

Gen Prayut not only has failed to soften the military habit and tradition of top-down, arbitrary orders, but has increased the drift.

PPRP leader Uttama Savanayana and three other ministers and government officials have refused to step aside for the election. This breaks tradition of the parliamentary system, in Thailand and around the world. In the pre-election period, governments are supposed to be caretakers, but Gen Prayut continues to commit billions of baht in new programmes.

The government and junta should take immediate steps to halt and reverse the loss of confidence they are bringing to electoral honesty.

Editorial

Bangkok Post editorial column

These editorials represent Bangkok Post thoughts about current issues and situations.

Email : anchaleek@bangkokpost.co.th

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