There is an increasingly strong public sentiment that favours pushing back the election day by a few weeks, as the Senate needs to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the selection and nomination of election commissioners is being done transparently. Another compelling reason to push back the election date is that it will afford new commissioners more time to familiarise themselves with their challenging new jobs, which require not only legal prowess, but also practical knowledge of the electoral system and organisational skills.

It is an idea that should be seriously considered by caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his ruling Thai Rak Thai Party in consultation with other parties. The fixing of the date for a general election was originally meant to end the uncertainty surrounding the direction in which Thailand's democracy was headed. However, after the Criminal Court convicted three previous election commissioners of malfeasance and sentenced them to four years' imprisonment, which caused them to lose the posts they had abused for almost five years, political uncertainty is no longer an issue.

Everybody knows that a general election will be held and that its outcome will more or less offer a way out of the political crisis that Thailand has found itself in since late January.

The Supreme Court has already presented a list of 10 short-listed candidates to be vetted by the incumbent Senate, which will then appoint five of them to serve as election commissioners.

Meanwhile, members of the public are expected to keep a close watch on the Senate's handling of the nomination process. After all, a painful lesson has already been learned regarding what damage a constitutionally-mandated "independent" agency like the EC can do to the country's democracy when its commissioners allow themselves to be swayed by powerful, corruption-prone politicians.

Among the various "independent" agencies charged with ensuring a level playing field among political forces, combating corruption and provide a system of checks and balances to the government, the EC has a crucial role as a gatekeeper, preventing people with dubious pasts from entering politics in the first place.

To say that the new election commissioners will have a tall order to fill would be a gross understatement. For a start, future election commissioners will find that organising a nationwide election is an enormous challenge like no other that they have had to face in their professional lives.

For example, the first major task facing the five new election commissioners is to revamp the whole organisational structure of the Election Commission - from its central administrative office in Bangkok down to provincial election commissions and constituency-based election-organising committees. There are tens of thousands of officials from various government agencies, as well as members of the civil society and the general public, who are involved in organising a national election.

The new commissioners must make certain that as many honest people as possible are appointed to sit on provincial election commissions. These play a crucial role in monitoring, investigating and preparing cases against those engaged in electoral fraud and the violation of election laws. Under the previous EC, which was widely seen as being biased in favour of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party, too many provincial commissioners turned out to be corrupt, as they could be manipulated or persuaded by bribes to turn a blind eye to electoral fraud.

Postponing the October 15 general election by a few weeks or even a month to ensure that new commissioners can adequately prepare themselves to face the Herculean task of holding a genuinely free and fair election is a small price for society to pay.