EC to seek court opinion on MP calculation method

[webfact]

EC to seek court opinion on MP calculation method

By THE NATION

 

Ittiporn [File Photo]

 

Pheu Thai warns awarding seats to small parties ‘unconstitutional’ 

 

AFTER DAYS of debate and dispute over the right formula to calculate MP seats, the Election Commission (EC) president said yesterday that the agency was considering approaching the Constitutional Court to seek its opinion.

 

EC chief Ittiporn Boonpracong yesterday told reporters a Constitutional Court judgement is among the options the commissioners are looking at. 

He said the agency has yet to decide on the formula that it will use to calculate MP allocation. 

 

The EC was studying the similarities and differences between the stipulations in the Constitution and the organic law on MP election, Ittiporn said, adding that the EC had an initial calculation model, but was yet to make the final call.

 

The model Ittiporn was referring to would allocate seats to 11 small parties who did not gain even half the number of votes required to be allotted a seat in the Lower House. This method was backed by Praphan Naikovit, a member of the now-defunct Constitution Drafting Commission and an ex-EC member, who said the formula had been tested, tried and finalised when the Constitution and the organic law were being written.

 

Tentative calculations currently show that a party will need at least 71,000 votes to get an MP seat. Proponents of this calculation model cited the Constitution, which says no party should get a seat it is not entitled to. They also argue that handing out seats to small parties would be at the expense of larger parties.

 

Future Forward Party, which has won over 6 million votes nationwide, could potentially lose up to seven seats. 

 

Popular winner Phalang Pracharat, which supports coup leader General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return as PM, would also lose two or three MPs in Parliament. However, it is expected to reap dividends from the 11 small parties offering their support to form a coalition government.

 

The poll authority has been heavily criticised and accused of manipulating the maths to favour pro-junta parties. 

 

While the authority said that giving small parties places in the House would reflect the Constitution’s intention to make every vote count, the method poses a challenge for the pro-democracy camp, which is struggling to muster 250 MPs to form a coalition and block the junta from future politics.

 

Pheu Thai Party has been striving to prove that the calculation method would be unconstitutional. Yesterday, party executives and legal experts met and agreed that they would discuss the MP-seat calculation in the annual general assembly on April 21, the first Monday after Songkran holidays.

 

Pheu Thai warns EC

 

The party’s legal chief, Chusak Sirinin, yesterday also read a party statement on the calculation issue, reiterating that the current EC method would be unconstitutional.

 

In order to secure one seat in the House of Representatives, Pheu Thai insisted that a party must gain at least 71,065 votes. 

 

The number is the product of all the votes obtained by all parties (35,532,647) divided by the number of the seats available in the House (500). 

 

Since the number of MPs already exceeded 500, as Pheu Thai had won more constituencies than the formula required, it would be impossible for the small parties who gained less than 70,000 votes to be in the Lower House, Pheu Thai stressed.

 

It also submitted an official letter to the EC yesterday, asking it to reconsider the calculation method.

 

The party’s secretary-general, Phumtham Wechayachai, said the move was necessary in case the party had to pursue legal action against the agency.

 

In a related development, the Thailand Students Union filed a lawsuit against the EC yesterday for alleged negligence after numerous irregularities occurred during the March 24 election.

 

This criminal case is in addition to a case brought before the National Anti-Corruption Commission by other activists demanding the impeachment of EC commissioners over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the election.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30367506

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-04-11

[Odysseus123]

You would think that they would have had this figured out prior to the (long awaited) "free and fair" election.

 

Now it's off to the courts for their decision.A sort of political Jarndyce v.Jarndyce-it could go on for ever if they play their cards right.

[bannork]

1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

You would think that they would have had this figured out prior to the (long awaited) "free and fair" election.

 

Now it's off to the courts for their decision.A sort of political Jarndyce v.Jarndyce-it could go on for ever if they play their cards right.

Except the E C must declare the election results by May 9.

[Chang_paarp]

I foresee that once the Constitutional Court has had its say there will be a string of cases going before the Supreme Court. ( I think they can do that ) Several high end Mercs/BMW's being purchased by lawyers on the back of this election.

[Fex Bluse]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

AFTER DAYS of debate and dispute over the right formula to calculate MP seats, the Election Commission (EC) president said yesterday that the agency was considering approaching the Constitutional Court to seek its opinion

So Thai! ????????????

 

The same way they build condos and other structures here without thinking and then immediately have to start working on fixing issues.

 

What total clowns 

[YetAnother]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pheu Thai warns awarding seats to small parties ‘unconstitutional’ 

how is the farce meter registering on all of this ? if thailand was a person, they couldnt tie their own shoelaces

[Lungstib]

As I suggested just a couple of days ago, they will now introduce the third leg of Prayuths creations, the constitutional court, the assembly that was given an extension of life when it was supposed to be newly elected. Another institute beholding to the current military powers and hardly independent.

[fantom]

3 hours ago, Lungstib said:

As I suggested just a couple of days ago, they will now introduce the third leg of Prayuths creations, the constitutional court, the assembly that was given an extension of life when it was supposed to be newly elected. Another institute beholding to the current military powers and hardly independent.

As I wrote in another thread today about the meeting of minds regarding the total lack of corruption in this junta, there is no concept of the 'Separation of Powers'

[SABloke]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the agency has yet to decide on the formula that it will use to calculate MP allocation. 

Wait...what?  On Sunday the EC released this information:

 

"The EC also insisted that there is only one formula for calculating the final number of House seats won by political parties,"

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, YetAnother said:

how is the farce meter registering on all of this ? if thailand was a person, they couldnt tie their own shoelaces

The farce is registering higher than PM2.5 in CM

[rkidlad]

Right! I guess the EC (the junta) has taken about as much s*** as they can take for this poorly rigged election. Time to pass the buck over to the constitutional court. 

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

I foresee that once the Constitutional Court has had its say there will be a string of cases going before the Supreme Court.

The Constitutional Court deals with matters involving interpretation of the constitution, creation of Organic Laws and decisions cannot be appealed.

The Supreme Court of Thailand is the court of final appeal in all civil and criminal cases.

A decision as to whether the EC is using the correct formula to calculate MP allocation is not a civil or criminal matter but a political matter.

[Ulic]

Of course, it should have been decided before the election but I would suggest that a party not be awarded a seat unless they get at least two percent of the vote. Well above the numbers they are talking about. Just my opinion.

[Odysseus123]

7 minutes ago, Ulic said:

Of course, it should have been decided before the election but I would suggest that a party not be awarded a seat unless they get at least two percent of the vote. Well above the numbers they are talking about. Just my opinion.

Really?

 

You mean there ain't no criteria and you can just make it up as you go along?

 

That figures..

[Baerboxer]

Beginning to rival Brexit!

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Baerboxer

[KneeDeep]

32 minutes ago, Ulic said:

Of course, it should have been decided before the election but I would suggest that a party not be awarded a seat unless they get at least two percent of the vote. Well above the numbers they are talking about. Just my opinion.

 

Don't you mean 0.2%(500 MPs)?

[Eligius]

The Court will be told (secretly): 'If we use this method of calculation, then Pheua Thai and FFP emerge as very clear winners; but if we use this other special method of calculation, Phalang Pracharat are revealed as the clear and uncontestable winner. What should we do? Which one is right?'

Court replies: 'The second method is the correct one. The other is full of flaws. Now proclaim the result to the Thai people: Phalang Pracharat are the new government, and the new government is headed up by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha!'

 

There we have it: all done and dusted.

 

Now over to the Thai people .....

[chama]

On 4/10/2019 at 5:42 PM, bannork said:

Except the E C must declare the election results by May 9.

Unless they decide not to. It would not be the first broken commitment. 

[DrTuner]

So a bunch of junta lackeys are going to ask another bunch of junta lackeys about the junta. Nothing to see here, move along, sabai sabai.

[Eric Loh]

On 4/11/2019 at 1:50 PM, Eligius said:

The Court will be told (secretly): 'If we use this method of calculation, then Pheua Thai and FFP emerge as very clear winners; but if we use this other special method of calculation, Phalang Pracharat are revealed as the clear and uncontestable winner. What should we do? Which one is right?'

Court replies: 'The second method is the correct one. The other is full of flaws. Now proclaim the result to the Thai people: Phalang Pracharat are the new government, and the new government is headed up by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha!'

 

There we have it: all done and dusted.

 

Now over to the Thai people .....

Probably the method will be get the desired outcome and work backwards. I believed this is termed as political expediency. 

[macgver]

I guess that we didn't pass the mathematic and statistics, as they claimed. haha!