Application for Thailand's national reform councilors starts

BANGKOK, August 14 (TNA) - The Office of the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) has started to register National Reform Council (NRC) candidates. The first-day registration was active on Thursday morning and it will continue until September 2, 2014. The registration followed the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)'s formation of committees to select reform councilors on August 13. Each Thai province has one selection committee and there are also 11 other selection committees to nominate reform councilors in various fields. EC Secretary-General Puchong Nutrawong told journalists that he expects a large number of interested persons to show up and seek relevant documents, while the EC is to report the names of candidates at 5pm every day. Deputy EC Secretary-General Boonyakiat Rakchartcharoen said 20 days of the 50-day selection process are for candidacy registrations, another 10 days for the verification of candidates' qualifications and the rest are for the EC to send the list of candidates to selection committees, which will shortlist them for the NCPO to finally pick. Each of 77 Thai provinces will have one reform councilor and there will be 173 other reform councilors who represent various sectors. There will also be altogether 250 reform councilors and their names will be proposed for a royal approval. Meanwhile, two major Thai political parties, including the Democrat Party and the Pheu Thai Party, have refused to take part in the NRC. (TNA)