Thais vote for Senate ahead of crucial deadline for PM

Reuters, Bangkok :
Thais voted on Sunday for half of the country’s 150-seat Senate in a key test for Yingluck Shinawatra’s troubled government, a day before the prime minister is due to defend herself against negligence charges over a disastrous rice subsidy scheme.
Anti-government protesters are in their fifth month of a campaign to force Yingluck out and set in motion political and electoral reforms before a new general election takes place.
Yingluck’s opponents want impeachment charges brought against the country’s leader over the government’s financially ruinous rice scheme. A Senate dominated by anti-government politicians could hasten her exit.
Thailand’s 150-seat Senate is made up of 77 elected senators. The other 73 seats are appointed and are seen as allied to the anti-Thaksin establishment.
Anti-government forces want to ensure a conservative, pro-establishment, majority to influence any decision to remove Yingluck which would require the votes of three-fifths of the senators.
Yingluck is due to appear before the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on Monday to defend herself against charges of dereliction of duty for her role in overseeing the botched rice scheme.
While party affiliation is prohibited in the non-partisan Senate, the majority of the 77 elected seats will be decided on the basis of endorsements from powerful, party-affiliated, local institutions, particularly in rural areas, meaning that the result could deliver a pro-Yingluck majority.
“The Senate vote is likely to deliver a result similar to the nullified February 2 election for the lower house, meaning it will be pro-government,” said political analyst Kan Yuenyong at Siam Intelligence Unit.
“However most, around 90 percent, of appointed senators are anti-government so if the Senate is asked to remove Yingluck they’re very close to the number of voices needed to do that.”