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Thais vote to elect new Senate, check-and-balance concerns raised+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)BANGKOK, April 19_(Kyodo) _ Thai voters went to the polls Wednesday to elect a new Senate amid the speculation the both houses of parliament will be dominated by backers of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's ruling Thai Rak Thai party, which won a landslide victory in the April 2 lower house election that was boycotted by main opposition parties. While the Senate is supposed to be a nonpartisan body serving as a check-and-balance on the government, nearly half of the 1,477 candidates are reported to be closely associated with Thai Rak Thai party members. Some of them are spouses, family members or cronies of Thai Rak Thai members. Under the Constitution, the 200 senators cannot be members of political parties. The vote began at 8 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. on a day declared a public holiday by the government to allow the about 45 million eligible voters to select the new Senate. The former Senate was criticized by academics and media over its performance as most senators took the side of the government. During their six-year terms, senators have several significant powers, including consideration of bills, emergency decree approval and appointing members of inspection organs such as the commissions on elections and on corruption, and the Constitution Court. The Senate can also submit petitions to remove the prime minister or his ministers from office. This was only Thailand's second senatorial election after the first one in 2000. The number of senators in each province -- from one to eight -- depends on population, with Bangkok having 18. Meanwhile, the group of gunmen in southern Thailand used guns and bombs to attack the police and village chiefs Wednesday morning in Srisakorn district of Narathiwat Province while they were transferring poll boxes to the polling stations. Local police said one policeman died and another seven people were injured, including one village chief. |