‘People’s Senate’ campaign aims to shatter Thai junta legacy

The Progressive Movement has launched a campaign encouraging the public to help forge a “People’s Senate”. The movement’s goal is to ensure that the replacement for the junta-appointed Senate, which expired on May 10, serves the people and unlocks the process of amending the junta-drafted 2017 Constitution.

Changing the current Constitution will require the assent of at least 70 Senators.

Pannika Wanich, a Progressive Movement executive committee member, said the group hopes its campaign will attract independent applicants to compete against established voices from prominent families, influential political networks, and retired civil servants.

"The Progressive Movement cannot directly nominate candidates for the Senate, but we can ‘hack the system’ to make people understand how important this Senate election is to their lives,” she said.

The campaign targets people who feel that “the dissolution of parties and the disenfranchisement of politicians is not happening fairly or transparently, but rather as political cases,” Pannika added. She was referring to the threat of legal dissolution hanging over the opposition Move Forward Party, the successor to Future Forward, which was dissolved in 2020 under the military-backed government of Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the Progressive Movement’s chairman, said the Prayut regime’s repressive legacy remains through the 2017 Constitution. 

“It is impossible to amend the Constitution to become truly democratic if we don't have a Senate with enough democratic wisdom. [Yes votes from a] minimum of 70 senators are required to amend this Constitution."

The Progressive Movement estimates that the Senate election must include 50,000 to 100,000 independent candidates to break the voting blocs of establishment figures. Only those who register as candidates can vote in the Senate election.

The Progressive Movement also emphasised that the new Senate will shape the political landscape by determining the membership of independent organisations vital to the separation of powers in a democratic system.

Thanathorn said a breakdown of the separation of powers that prevented 2023 election winner Move Forward from forming a coalition government partly stemmed from the Senate. This is because the Senate approves the appointment of commissioners of independent organisations who come from powerful groups and do not work in the interests of the people, he said. He expressed hope that the new Senate would select commissioners for their spirit of justice and public service, thereby normalising politics by creating a balance without the need for “special powers” to manage affairs.

The "People's Senate" campaign aims to break the voting blocs created by the mechanisms established by the junta's National Council for Peace and Order, he added.

Pannika pointed out that the new Senate will be tasked with approving appointments to independent organisations and bodies as stipulated by the Constitution. This includes endorsing the appointments of judges to the Constitutional Court, where seven out of nine judges are selected by the Senate, as well as the Election Commission (EC), where five out of seven commissioners are approved by the Senate, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), where five out of nine commissioners are endorsed by the Senate. The selection of these new commissioners will largely determine the direction of independent organisations and bodies as outlined in the Constitution. 

"The new Senate will shape the future of Thai politics through independent organisations," Pannika emphasised.

The tenure of the 250 senators handpicked by the junta ended last Friday, but they will remain in place as acting senators until their replacements are elected. The selection process will be conducted in three stages, with results announced on July 2.