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C. Thailand: The Election Commission of Thailand

(ECT)

Brief History and Political Context

The Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) is an autonomous

state organization which was established as a consequence of Thailand’s
political reform agenda. The main goal of the ECT is to improve account-

ability and credibility of electoral process under the crisis of corrupt
and non-transparent Thai politics and governance. The political reform,
accordingly, set up the framework for the Political Reform Constitution

or the so-called “People’s Constitution” which included 3 main sections:
(1) Citizens’ rights, responsibilities and participation; (2) Monitoring the use

of state power; (3) Political institutions and the relationship among them.
The election commission is relevant with “Section 2 Monitoring the use
of state power” which aims to enable clean politics and legitimate use

of state power, as well as to effectively empower citizens’ participation
in controlling the use of state power at all levels and all areas through

reducing and eradicating vote buying, encouraging capable candidates
to enter political positions, prescribing measures to control dishonesty
of state officials, and establishing monitoring organizations to cover all

areas of the use of state power (Borwornsak Uwanno, 2544).

In Thai politics, although an “election” has been employed

as a means through which the political power is transferred from the
people to their representatives in the parliamentary electoral system

since 1932 (when Thailand shifted from the absolute monarchy regime
to the democratic regime), the first election of members of the House of
Representatives was an indirect election, in compliance with the Election