The Social Security Office (SSO) has released a draft of the new election rules for the Social Security Board following a public consultation held through various channels that garnered over 1.24 million comments.
On 26 Mar 2026 GMT+7, a reporter reported that Mrs. Niyada Seni Manomai, Deputy Secretary-General of the Social Security Office (SSO) and spokesperson for the office, revealed after a Social Security Board meeting that a key agenda item was the presentation of a summary report on the public consultation results and the draft Ministry of Labour regulation on the criteria and methods for electing employer and insured representatives to the Social Security Board. The draft regulation was submitted to the board for review and feedback before being forwarded to the Minister of Labour for legal consideration. This process complies with the 2019 Act on Drafting and Evaluating Legislation.
The Social Security Office conducted the public consultation involving stakeholders from all sectors between 15 Jan and 14 Feb 2026 GMT+7 via the central legal system, the SSO website, and all SSO offices nationwide. The consultation received a total of 1,244,260 comments: 699,460 through the central legal system, 451,155 via the SSO website, and 93,645 at SSO offices across the country. The SSO will use these results to prepare a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) report, which will be publicly released.
Mrs. Niyada added that the responsible subcommittee proposed four election draft regulation options to ensure appropriateness and genuine participation in selecting employer and insured representatives to the Social Security Board: 1. One-person-one-vote model with proportional representation of insured groups and revised candidate eligibility criteria, including contribution payment requirements; 2. One-person voting according to insured group proportions with revised candidate criteria and contribution conditions; 3. One-person-seven-votes model with revised candidate eligibility and contribution conditions; and 4. The 2021 election regulation without amendments. Options 1 and 2 emphasize proportional representation to encourage genuine participation, while options 3 and 4 do not separate proportions.
However, the new draft election regulation (in the revised option 1) specifies additional candidate qualifications to enhance organizational trust, such as relevant knowledge or experience, integrity and honesty, full capability to perform duties, and political neutrality. It also requires candidates to have contributed for at least 48 months within the 60 months preceding the election and mandates election observation to ensure transparency. The Social Security Office has analyzed the advantages and limitations of each option across legal aspects, participation, election principles, organizational trust, and election management efficiency to inform the Social Security Board's consideration.
The Deputy Secretary-General emphasized that the public consultation process collects stakeholder feedback to inform decision-making and impact analysis; it is not a binding referendum based on majority vote. The agency must assess the appropriateness of comments and follow the legal procedures. After the Social Security Board reviews the feedback, the Social Security Office will submit the opinions, suggestions, and all four draft regulation options to the Minister of Labour for further consideration.