Former Buriram Governor Mongkol Surasatja was elected the President of the Senate yesterday (23 July) in the first session of the new Senate.

Dr Premsak Piayura, a former Thai Rak Thai MP from Khon Kaen, and Nantana Nantavaropas, former Dean of Krirk University’s Political Communication College, were also nominated for President.

159 senators voted for Mongkol, 13 for Premsak, and 19 for Nantana. 4 senators abstained, while 5 ballots were deemed invalid.

A former Governor of Buriram, Mongkol was appointed Director-General of the Department of Provincial Administration by the government of former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Gen Kriangkrai Srirak, former Army Region 4 Commander, former Thai Rak Thai party-list MP Noppadon Inna, former Thai Air Asia X CEO Patima Jeerapaet, and Lae Dilokvidhyarat, former lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Economics, were also nominated for First Vice President.

Former judge Boonsong Noisopon, Pongsak Kerdvongbundhit, Honorary President of the Thai Rubber Association and the Federation of Thai Industries, and former National Human Rights Commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit were nominated for Second Vice President. Patima was also nominated for Second Vice President after he lost the vote for First Vice President.

The Senate elected Gen Kriangkrai as first vice president with 150 votes and Boonsong as second vice president with 167 votes.

Prachachat Turakij reported that Gen Kriangkrai is a friend of Bhumjaithai Party leader and Minister of Interior Anutin Charnvirakul. They were in the same class at the National Defence College, and Anutin reportedly visited Kriangkrai several times while the latter was hospitalized following a helicopter crash in Songkhla. In December 2023, Anutin appointed Kriangkrai chair of the Minister of Interior’s board of advisors.

Boonsong, meanwhile, is a former judge who has served as President of the Region 7 Appeal Court and a Supreme Court judge. He is also a former member of the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT).

Nantana, leader of the so-called independent group of senators, told reporters after the session that the result of the vote was not unexpected and that the number of votes confirmed that there is a faction in the Senate. Meanwhile, Angkhana noted that Mongkol, Gen Kriangkrai, and Boonsong backed each other’s nominations. She said that she knew since the election that some candidates were strongly coordinated, and that the result of the votes shows that the Senate is not independent, since the President and Vice Presidents were elected by a landslide.