“Saewang” is set to smoothly continue as Secretary-General of the Election Commission until the end of his term after the Commission voted 5 to 2 to overturn the previous evaluation scoring below the 60% threshold by the former Commission, emphasizing that the authority to assess performance belongs to the new Commission.
On 17 July 2026, it was reported that at the Election Commission meeting on 15 July, a 5 to 2 vote was passed to cancel the 2025 fiscal year performance evaluation of Secretary-General Saewang Boonmee by the Commission chaired by Itthiporn Boonprakong. The current Commission will conduct the evaluation themselves, allowing Saewang to continue in his position.
This issue arose because the Commission under Chairman Itthiporn had rated Saewang’s 2025 performance below the 60% threshold, which under contract terms required termination of his position. However, this matter was never brought to a Commission vote before the previous Commission, including Chairman Itthiporn, ended their term. When the new Commission took office, news spread that Saewang’s evaluation was below 60%, raising legal questions. One former Commissioner requested the return of the evaluation documents, doubting whether a former Commission had authority to evaluate. The current Commission questioned which Commission held evaluation authority and consulted the Office of the Council of State, which stated it lacked legal authority to interpret the dispute, affirming it is an internal Commission matter.
In addition to consulting the Office of the Council of State, the Commission referred the matter to its legal advisory panel, chaired by former Chairman Supachai Somcharoen. The panel concluded that according to the contract, the sitting Commission holds evaluation authority. Historically, previous Secretary-Generals were evaluated by the Commission in office at the time. The legal advisors voted by majority to recommend that evaluation authority belongs to the current Commission.
During the 15 July Commission meeting, one Commissioner who previously opposed the current four Commissioners’ right to evaluate Saewang—citing their short time working together—reversed his position to vote for canceling the old Commission’s evaluation results. This decision is expected to enable Saewang Boonmee to serve as Secretary-General until the full five-year term ending 31 March 2027 without issue.