Facing frustration and suspicion over its "fairness" in holding the April 2 snap election, the Election Commission is on the brink of being "censured" and its members "impeached" by the Senate when it is formed next month.

Complaints and legal actions have battered the EC in recent weeks, all of them filed by the Democrat Party and anti-Thaksin groups. They allege the EC favoured caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his ruling Thai Rak Thai Party in the April 2 poll and is continuing the special treatment for the by-elections on Sunday.

As the law gives the Senate - which looks to include anti-Thaksin activists and critics - the final decision on impeaching EC members, those who are unhappy with the sitting commissioners have been waiting until the new "judges" take the bench. And they will keep the pressure up to bring the "unfair" EC down.

A recent controversy over the endorsement of election winners by conference call is one of the cases against the EC.

The four commissioners endorsed the winners of 133 constituencies on Monday. But ex-senators and Democrats cried foul over their method, in which the matter was discussed during a conference call and then the ruling issued as a letter rather than the usual decree.

The detractors believe the EC attempted to endorse the winners quickly to please the government and have all 500 MPs present for Parliament to open, although it was supposed to be carefully considering complaints.

The EC's opponents called on the commissioners to resign, saying they had lost the public's trust.

Early this week, the Democrats filed two criminal lawsuits charging the EC of abuse of power relating to the management of the snap election in 38 southern constituencies, where lone Thai Rak Thai candidates failed to muster 20 per cent of eligible votes to validate the outcome as the law requires.

The five named as defendants are four EC members - chairman Vasana Puemlarp, Prinya Nakchudtree, Virachai Naewboonnien and Charupat Ruangsuwan - and EC secretary-general Ekachai Warunprapha.

The EC also got in hot water when it introduced a controversial orientation of voting booths for the April 2 election. PollWatch, the Democrats and other anti-Thaksin groups claimed the EC violated election law as the new booth's positioning failed to protect voter privacy when ballots were marked. Observers outside the booths could see which number on

a ballot was ticked, they said.

Under pressure, the EC finally reverted to the old layout, in which the booths face election staff, for the Senate election yesterday and the House by-elections on Sunday.

Just before the April 2 poll, the EC was humiliated by the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling in favour of a network of civic groups, which felt that requiring the use of a rubber stamp to mark ballots might lead to vote-rigging.

The ruling allowed voters to mark ballots with their own pens instead of using only the stamps provided by the EC.

Against all the accusations, the commissioners have insisted on their fairness and transparency. They vow to stay on, as they say they have done nothing wrong.

Political Desk

The Nation