Further election delay if revised MP, senator laws reviewed by CDC

By The Nation 

 

NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said on Thursday that the creation of a joint law-review committee to examine the two last organic laws governing the selections of MPs and senators would not further delay the election beyond February of next year, as the review is a normal process that could conclude within the timeframe given.

 

However, there would be a problem or delay if the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) later disagreed with the joint panel and voted down the bills.

The two bills recently received the NLA’s endorsement, including amendments suggested by its law vetting committees that caused changes to the original versions drafted by the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC).

 

The critical impact of those changes is to delay the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days, resulting in the initially scheduled November election date being delayed to February 2019.

 

In the senate bill, the changes also include the waiver of a critical measure of a cross-selection among 20 professional guilds that the CDC had proposed as a key prevention of collusion that would corrupt the selection process. 

 

Having passed the NLA’s endorsement, the amended bills are now passed on to concerned parties, for their review. The CDC will review the constitutionality of the bills as amended. If they raise a point of constitutionality and oppose the bills, another joint law-review committee would then be set up accordingly.

 

CDC chief Meechai Ruchupan said the CDC has now received the two bills for consideration and would have time until February 9 to consider them before deciding whether to endorse them.

 

Meechai’s own opinion is that the NLA’s reason for delaying the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days is acceptable, but the CDC needs to look into its practicality, especially in regards to primary voting for which parties need time to prepare.

 

The CD would particularly look into the changes to the senate bill, which was primarily aimed at creating a people’s forum with representatives selected from various fields. The NLA’s law-vetting committee reduced the number of these fields or “guilds” from 20 to 10 groups, a change adopted by a vote of the NLA. 

 

Meechai said the ongoing law review is unlikely to result in the election being cancelled, but if the CDC felt it had to change the reviewed bills and the NLA subsequently rejected the CDC’s changes, the NLA is the body that must be responsible for the consequences.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30337716

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-02

There won't be any further delay, unless ...................................................... !! Insert new excuse :)

They need to slow down a bit, the "reason" for the next delay hasn't come into play yet

Although they could save themselves a lot of time if they just stuck with their original "My gun's bigger than yours" reason

 

25 minutes ago, grumbleweed said:

They need to slow down a bit, the "reason" for the next delay hasn't come into play yet

Although they could save themselves a lot of time if they just stuck with their original "My gun's bigger than yours" reason

 

Guess they aren't seeking "royal"  approval.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Meechai said the ongoing law review is unlikely to result in the election being cancelled,

now the talk begins: cancelling the election

If the deputy PM's latest poll of whether he should quit or not is anything to go by, they won't want anything even resembling a free and fair election. They would get absolutely battered. 

So at some point the lucky people of Thailand 'may' get to choose between the Junta backed PM, The judean people's front or the People front of Judea ! 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

NLA is the body that must be responsible for the consequences.

Which is responsible to nobody.  There are no consequences other than a population that is getting fed up with the delays and endless excuses. 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

NLA subsequently rejected the CDC’s changes, the NLA is the body that must be responsible for the consequences.

 

What consequences. They are salary paid civil servants and need not seek re-election. They can make all the mistakes but protected by the amnesty. If criticisms get too loud, they just charged all in sundry with ridiculous highly skewed laws. That statement by Meechai is a joke and a bad one. 

4 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

They are salary paid civil servants

Agree with your conclusions regarding lack of accountability.

 

But "civil servants" are typically part of the executive branch chain of command and budget. They have no official authority. They report to the leadership of the executive branch that consists of the PM, DPM and Cabinet Ministers who hold positions of official authority.

 

NLA ministers are (hypothetically) independent public officials who hold a position of official authority representing a constituency that forms the legislative branch of government with a separate budget. That explains why 20+ NLA ministers (likely active duty military officers) can receive monthly compensation benefits from the NLA (cannot be called "salary" as they likely receive a military monthly salary and government officials are not allowed to receive more than one government salary at a time) while being excused permanently from NLA attendance. You won't see that arrangement with civil servants.

15 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Agree with your conclusions regarding lack of accountability.

 

But "civil servants" are typically part of the executive branch chain of command and budget. They have no official authority. They report to the leadership of the executive branch that consists of the PM, DPM and Cabinet Ministers who hold positions of official authority.

 

NLA ministers are (hypothetically) independent public officials who hold a position of official authority representing a constituency that forms the legislative branch of government with a separate budget. That explains why 20+ NLA ministers (likely active duty military officers) can receive monthly compensation benefits from the NLA (cannot be called "salary" as they likely receive a military monthly salary and government officials are not allowed to receive more than one government salary at a time) while being excused permanently from NLA attendance. You won't see that arrangement with civil servants.

The 200 appointees NLA members consist of half military officers and the other half aligned bureaucrats and PDRC supporters. A betrayal of the junta original proposal to appoint people from all field of interests which will include social activists, academics, businessmen and bureaucrats. It more a family business that will stay close to junta policies and even maximize it like my tongue in cheek description of the rubber stamping NLA as civil servants.

Just breathing (or any other excuse) will create a delay. The Thai people are the only thing that can stop these delays.