Is there anyone else involved?

The ongoing legal tussle over alleged poll collusion by more than half of the country’s senators has several pundits wondering if the upper chamber can remain functional as a legislative body.

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However, the more pressing question has to do with whether or not many senators who have so far been spared a criminal investigation had a hand in rigging the multi-level, inter-professional polls last year, too.

In the quest by charter writers to prevent the Senate elections being influenced by mainstream politicians as much as possible, it was designed to drag on for at least three days to whittle candidates down to finalists via intraand inter-professional group voting at the district, provincial and national levels.

However, despite being branded the most complicated election in Thai political history, it was not immune to meddling.

In fact, it had been anticipated that the way candidates were able to apply for specific professional groups relevant to them would be an open invitation for vote manipulation by political parties.

With the election long over, its flaws have been spelt out. The most glaring among them was the poor criteria adopted in the candidacy registration.

A political source said eligibility was so broadly drawn up that an applicant had several options available by running in a number of professional groups. Candidates were known to have huddled secretly in clusters and lobbied among themselves for votes before proceeding to elect winners across professional blocs.

The source said it would not be surprising to think such lobbying would be covertly orchestrated by political elements with the means to pull off the stunt.