Meechai rejects amending Political Party Act, Constitution in election lead-up

By The Nation 

 

Meechai Ruchupan

 

Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan on Thursday voiced opposition to a proposal to amend the Political Party Act to nullify party memberships for all existing parties in order to avoid disadvantaging new parties.

 

“It is not fair for political party members to have their membership status terminated,” he said, “although I admit that there is an advantage and disadvantage between the old and new parties,” said Meechai whose CDC drafted the law.

 

Early this week, Paiboon Nititawan, a former member of the now-defunct National Reform Council, proposed an amendment to the Act.

 

He noted that the new act recognises the membership status of all who belong to existing political parties even if they have not paid their membership fees, while demanding members of new parties pay a fee that would then become the seed money for the registration process required under the new organic law.

 

Paiboon said the requirements reflect unfair treatment of all parties.

 

But Meechai said if the amendment affected or delayed the road map to the next election, the delay could not be blamed on the original charter writers.

 

The CDC chief also responded negatively to another proposal proposed by Somsak Thepsuthin, a veteran politician from Matchima Thippathai Party, to amend the 2017 Constitution to allow MP candidates to run as independents in the election rather than having to be attached to a political party.

 

“It is hard to amend the charter because it was passed in the referendum,” CDC chief Meechai.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30333978

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-12-15

45 minutes ago, webfact said:

"It is hard to amend the charter because it was passed in the referendum,” CDC chief Meechai

Hmmmm.... what political parties?  Weren't all political parties lined up against the wall and shot May 2014?  And... constitution?  What constitution?  Wasn't the real constitution shredded and tossed into the graves of the aforementioned political party corpses way back then?  Methinks khun Meechai needs to lay off the yah-bah.

 

It just keeps getting stranger and stranger here in the former Land of Smiles folks.

Edited December 14, 20178 yr by Jimbo in Thailand

Hillarious! Nullify all parties so everything can be fair???

That some parties have more members than others, is out of the peoples opinion. That´s one of the cornerstones in democracy. Just shows me once again that the people don´t know what it is to start with. 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

“It is hard to amend the charter because it was passed in the referendum,”

Better yet, there's no Senate that's required by the endorsed 2017 Constitution to amend the Constitution. Prayut will appoint Senate members after the election. https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/thailand-new-constitution-extends-military-control-of-government/3462035.html

 

But of course, Prayut could now as NCPO Chief issue an Order to amend the Constitution followed by endorsement but that might strain the illusion that the nation is intended to be a constitutional democracy.