Progressive team takes control of Social Security Board

The Progressive Social Security team has taken control of the Social Security Office Board with a dominating win over their rivals in Sunday's election.

Unofficial results on Monday showed the PSS candidates won all seven seats representing insured workers and the seven seats assigned for employers' representatives on the 21-member board, with more than 95% of the ballots having been counted. 

SSO secretary-general Jeerapa Boonrat earlier said official results were expected by the end of this year.

The election was largely a contest between the Progressive Social Security team and the old-guard Labour Power team led by veteran Panus Thailuan, president of the National Congress of Thai Labour. Other candidates included independent runners, some of them having an alliance with the Labour Power faction.

Each of the PSS candidates for the employer seats received more than 8,000 votes, against less than 1,000 for their competitors. PSS candidates received more than 800,000 votes in total for the workers' representatives seats. Other candidates won only about 20,000.

The Progressive Social Security team is linked with the People's Party and Progressive Movement.

Prior to Sunday's vote, Mr Panus had said he expected an easy victory for his team, because of their experience and backing from workers and employers.

The 21-member SSO board comprises seven representatives from each of the three sectors - workers, business owners and government. The labour permanent secretary is ex-officio chairman. The government representatives are drawn from the labour and finance ministries, and the Budget Bureau.

The board sets the direction for the SSO to operate the Social Security Fund and acts as a buffer between the government and the fund. The fund is valued at 2.8 trillion baht, which is the largest social welfare fund in the country, with more than 24 million insured people nationwide.

About 680,000 members voted for the board on Sunday, a 330% jump from the previous election in 2023. The board has a two-year tenure.