As 250 junta-appointed senators bow out, a look into their legacy
The 250 outgoing senators appointed by the junta posed proudly on Wednesday for group photos at Parliament, but many people, especially the pro-democracy side, see them as the main obstacle to democracy.
Among other things, their controversial actions during the past five years in office included blocking the leaders of two election-winning parties from becoming the prime minister and rejecting 18 charter amendment bills.
The 250 senators officially completed their tenure in May after they took office in May 2019. They will be caretaker senators until the EC announces the newly-elected 200 senators, scheduled for July 2.
Following are their key “performances” and the notorious nicknames they were given during the past five years.
“Deactivating senators”
Since the first Senate under the provisions of the 2017 Constitution following the 2014 coup was powered by provisional clauses of the charter to elect the prime minister, the democratic side and Pheu Thai and Move Forward Party have been campaigning for voters to elect them overwhelmingly so they could “deactivate” the senators in the election for PM election. The campaigns led to the coining of the term “deactivating senators”.
The outgoing Senate was also given other uncomplimentary terms, such as “heirs of the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO]”, the “appointed chamber”, and “junta’s senators”. Some people even called the chamber the “provisional Senate”, referring to the provisional clauses that gave them power to elect the prime minister.
Killing 18 charter amendment bills
The outgoing senators were seen as the true defenders of the so-called “half-baked democratic charter”, which was seen as written to allow the NCPO to remain in power after the 2019 election.
Opposition parties during the tenure of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government submitted up to 20 charter amendment bills to reduce the power of the senators in electing the PM and other powers, but the senators joined forces with ruling coalition MPs to shoot down 18 bills.
One bill was put on hold after the Constitutional Court ruled that the charter amendments must be preceded by a public referendum.
Only one amendment bill, to ease the primary vote system, was approved.
Voting for and rejecting PM candidates
Although the Palang Pracharath Party came in second after the Pheu Thai Party in the 2019 election, the senators voted to elect Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Palang Pracharath as the prime minister.
Then last year, when the Move Forward Party won the election, the senators joined hands with former partners of the Prayut government to block Pita Limjaroen, then Move Forward leader, from becoming the prime minister. Following a long tug-of-war and bargaining, the senators allowed Pheu Thai’s PM candidate Srettha Thavisin to become the prime minister later.
Apart from being perceived as partisan, the outgoing Senate also worked hard, enacting 53 bills by endorsing 32 versions of the House’s drafts.
The Senate has also submitted 488 motions to seek explanations from the two governments during the past five years.
The outgoing Senate has also appointed 24 members of independent organisations of the charters – six members of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, 7 Constitutional Court judges, five members of the National Human Rights Commission, two members of the Election Commission, two ombudsmen, one state auditor-general, and one commissioner of the State Audit Commission.
