Senate of Thailand

The Senate of Thailand ( Thai : วุฒิสภา ไทย , pronunciation: Wutthisapha Thai , literally: "Council of the Elders of Thailand") is the upper house of the National Assembly and thus the Thai legislature . The National Assembly was dissolved as a result of the military coup on May 22, 2014 and replaced by a National Legislative Assembly with 220 members selected by the military under the current interim constitution.

Below the article describes the situation under the repealed 2007 constitution:

In accordance with the 2007 Thai Constitution , the Senate is a non-partisan legislative chamber. It has 150 senators, 76 of whom are directly elected and 74 are appointed by a committee. The Senate works for a fixed period of six years.

history

The 1946 Constitution established a Senate modeled on the British House of Lords . However, this constitution was abolished in a military coup the following year . The following constitutions only occasionally provided for a bicameral system, and even then the Senate always consisted of representatives from the military and the elite. A fully elected Senate was re-established under the 1997 constitution. This constitution was repealed after the 2006 coup . Since then, the members of the Senate have been partly elected and partly appointed.

composition

The Senate has 150 members. 76 senators are directly elected from the 75 provinces ( Changwat ) and Bangkok , while the remaining 74 from various sectors of society are appointed by the Senate Selection Committee. This consists of the chairperson of the constitutional court , the electoral commission , the ombudsman, the national anti-corruption commission, the court of auditors, as well as one judge each from the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. This selection committee is designed to take into account proposals from academic institutions, the public and private sectors, professional associations and other organizations. Since the Senate is involved in the appointment of the judges of the constitutional court, the members of the electoral commission and the ombudsmen, there is a certain circularity in the relationship between these institutions.

All senators must be non-party, at least 40 years old and have a university degree - at least a bachelor's degree . You may not have held any function in a political party or government office in the five years before you apply for a seat in the Senate. Relatives in the ascending line, spouses and children of members of parliament and political office holders are excluded from the election of senators.

Since August 2012, Nikom Wairatpanij , the directly elected Senator of Chachoengsao Province , has chaired it . He is also the Vice-President of the National Assembly.

Responsibilities

Among other things, the Senate is ultimately responsible for proposing the five members of Thailand's electoral commission to the King .

See also

• House of Representatives (Lower House)

Web links

• Members of the Senate
• Canan Atilgan: A new Senate for Thailand. (PDF; 36 kB) KAS Country Report Thailand, March 2008.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Part3, Section 111-114, Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2007 ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Tom Ginsburg: Constitutional Afterlife: The Continuing Impact of Thailand's Postpolitical Constitution . In: Icon - International Journal of Constitutional Law. Vol. 7, No. 1, 2009, p. 92.
3. ↑ Tom Ginsburg: Constitutional Afterlife: The Continuing Impact of Thailand's Postpolitical Constitution . In: Icon - International Journal of Constitutional Law. Vol. 7, No. 1, 2009, p. 102.
4. ↑ Section 115, Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2007 ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Section 88, Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2007 ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ About ECT. (No longer available online.) In: Official website of the ECT. Archived from the original on March 13, 2010 ; accessed on July 15, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.