House speaker accepts draft charter amendment bill to clip senators’ wings

[snoop1130]

 

House speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha accepted a draft bill from the Move Forward party this afternoon (Friday), which seeks to amend Section 272 of the provisional chapter of Thailand’s Constitution to strip senators of their powers in selecting the prime minister.

 

Wan told a group of 50 Move Forward MPs, led by secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon that he will ask officials to check the draft and the number of MPs endorsing it, before it is added to the parliamentary agenda.

 

Chaithawat said the party decided to propose the draft bill to put an end to the political impasse, caused by as many as 159 senators abstaining from voting in the selection of the prime minister yesterday and 43 others not attending the joint sitting, which “is a clear indication that they do not wish to exercise their right and authority in the selection of the prime minister.”

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/house-speaker-accepts-draft-charter-amendment-bill-to-clip-senators-wings/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-07-14

 

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[mfd101]

Wow! Clever move.

 

Will it change anything? Well, it at least puts some new cards on the table.

 

Watch this space!

[mark131v]

Interesting times ahead, blatantly obvious that the senators are only in place for 2 things the first of which is self enrichment and the second to uphold the status quo and stop any semblance of democracy slipping into Thai politics, they are an abomination and should be treated as such...

[bob smith]

good. 

 

[dinsdale]

1st step. Good. It should be so. These senators are part of a coup and planted by the coup leader. 2nd step should be invesigation in to corruption. 3rd step should be prossecution.

Edited July 14, 2023 by dinsdale

[mark131v]

1 minute ago, dinsdale said:

1st step. Good. It should be so. These senators are part of a coup and planted by the coup leader. 2nd step should be invesigation of corruption. 3rd step should be prossecution.

4th step string the bastards up as an example...

Edited July 14, 2023 by mark131v

[smedly]

had an idea this would be the first order of business unfortunately nothing can happen until the new government is in place, or there might be a possibility of putting it to the people in a vote

[zzaa09]

42 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

1st step. Good. It should be so. These senators are part of a coup and planted by the coup leader. 2nd step should be invesigation in to corruption. 3rd step should be prossecution.

...which will never come about, of course.

This clipping is just a surface gesture as is the policy that is drafted. 

 

 

[SABloke]

Surely abstensions should lower the total number of legal representative votes i.e. if 50 people abstain the required majority becomes 351 (not 376) etc. Still including abstensions in the total without adjusting the numbers just makes them "no" votes. Nonsense. Why not say then that an abstension equals a "yes" vote? Equally ludicrous. 

[mfd101]

9 minutes ago, SABloke said:

Surely abstensions should lower the total number of legal representative votes i.e. if 50 people abstain the required majority becomes 351 (not 376) etc. Still including abstensions in the total without adjusting the numbers just makes them "no" votes. Nonsense. Why not say then that an abstension equals a "yes" vote? Equally ludicrous. 

TIT

[Puccini]

This is an English translation of the Section 272 of the Constitution being talked about (highlighting in bold is mine):

 

Quote

Section 272. In the period of five years from the date of installation of the
first National Assembly under this Constitution, an approval of a person suitable to be
appointed as the Prime Minister shall be done in accordance with section 159, except for the
consideration and approval under section 159 paragraph one, which shall be done by a joint
sitting of the National Assembly, and the resolution approving the appointment of any person
as the Prime Minister under section 159 paragraph three must be made by the votes of more
than one-half of the total number of existing members of both Houses.

During the time under paragraph one, if a Prime Minister cannot be appointed
from the persons in the lists submitted by political parties under section 88 due to any reason,
and members of both Houses comprising not less than one-half of the total number of existing
members of both Houses submit a jointly signed petition to the President of the National
Assembly requesting the National Assembly to pass a resolution exempting the nomination of
the Prime Minister from the persons in the lists submitted by political parties under section
88, in such case, the President of the National Assembly shall promptly convene a joint sitting
of the National Assembly. In the case where the National Assembly passes a resolution
approving the exemption with votes of not less than two-third of the total number of existing
members of both Houses, the procedure under paragraph one shall be undertaken further, in
respect of which the persons in the list submitted by political parties under section 88 may
or may not be nominated.

Source: https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/2017-05/CONSTITUTION+OF+THE+KINGDOM+OF+THAILAND+(B.E.+2560+(2017)).pdf

 

This constitution was enacted on 6 April 2317. Presumably, General Prayut was the person approved by the first National Assembly instituted under this constitution and therefore Section 272, which was a transitory provision, should no longer apply to the current selection of a Prime Minister. Or have I got this wrong? Or has there been an amendment of Section 272 and the text I quoted above has been superseded?

 

 

 

 

 

[eisfeld]

What the article forgets to mention is that they need also the votes of at least a third of the senators in addition to a majority of house+senate to pass this. Why do they think the senators will agree to strip the powers of the senators? They already didn't manage to get a majority in house+senate and now they want to do something even less likely to materialize? Also even in the super unlikely event that they pass the hurdles as mentioned they need the Prime Minister to present this draft to the King. Well... anyone seeing an issue with that?

[eisfeld]

21 minutes ago, Puccini said:

This is an English translation of the Section 272 of the Constitution being talked about (highlighting in bold is mine):

 

Source: https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/2017-05/CONSTITUTION+OF+THE+KINGDOM+OF+THAILAND+(B.E.+2560+(2017)).pdf

 

This constitution was enacted on 6 April 2317. Presumably, General Prayut was the person approved by the first National Assembly instituted under this constitution and therefore Section 272, which was a transitory provision, should no longer apply to the current selection of a Prime Minister. Or have I got this wrong? Or has there been an amendment of Section 272 and the text I quoted above has been superseded?

There is a fine detail. It does not state that the five year period starts from the day of the enactment of the constitution but from the date of the first installation of the National Assembly. That happened after the elections in 2019. So same like the current senators this Section 272 will expire May of next year.

[Gottfrid]

Like that will change what?

[MrJ2U]

They'll need the senators vote on the referendum unfortunately.

 

 

[bannork]

54 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

There is a fine detail. It does not state that the five year period starts from the day of the enactment of the constitution but from the date of the first installation of the National Assembly. That happened after the elections in 2019. So same like the current senators this Section 272 will expire May of next year.

That's true. They're out of a job next May or June.

[Peabody]

1 hour ago, MrJ2U said:

They'll need the senators vote on the referendum unfortunately.

 

 

It would be neat if they found a loophole where absentees/abstainers are removed from the 750 total, so they only need >50% of members actually present. Say 200 abstain   750-200 = 550. Now only 276 yes votes needed.

[webfact]

Move Forward MPs File Bill To Rid Senators Of PM-Picking Power
By Thai Newsroom Reporters

 

Pheu Thai MPs submitting their bill to House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha today, July 14, 2023. Photo: Thai Rath

 

MOVE FORWARD MPs today (July 14) filed a renewed bill to put an end to the constitutional power of the military-appointed senators to pick a prime minister.

 

The Move Forward legislation was lodged in pursuit of amendment to Section 272 of the military-designed constitution to the extent that the senators be no longer empowered to vote for prime minister alongside the elected MPs.

 

House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said he considered such a bill involving the much-debatable part of the charter as urgent.

 

Full story: https://thainewsroom.com/2023/07/14/move-forward-mps-file-bill-to-rid-senators-of-pm-picking-power/

 

-- © Copyright  THAI NEWSROOM 2023-07-15

 

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[neeray]

At least this bill will help the Thai citizens realize that Prayut RIGGED the senate and that 250 senate votes are FAKE (sounds a lot like a GOP argument, LOL)

[2baht]

Quick, shut the gate, the horse has bolted! ????

[brommers]

This is a naive and stupid reaction taken in anger. It will certainly not proceed to enactment but will harden the already strong case against MFP in the minds of the military back elements that control matters. MFP will not exist in a very short time because the Con Court will ensure it is dissolved, just like Future Forward.

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

House speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha accepted a draft bill from the Move Forward party this afternoon (Friday), which seeks to amend Section 272 of the provisional chapter of Thailand’s Constitution to strip senators of their powers in selecting the prime minister.

Too ####ing late.

[rwill]

When Prawit is nominated I bet all the senators show up to vote.

[RichardColeman]

What are the odds on the unelected senators NOT abstaining when they propose a general for the position of PM ? Absolute farce. If they do not abstain for a general then the fix is on

[mark131v]

#juntaruleifyouletem...

 

How can anybody with more than a couple of braincell's accept this?????

[h90]

So either BJT or the Senators need to vote with this bill.....won't happen

[h90]

3 hours ago, neeray said:

At least this bill will help the Thai citizens realize that Prayut RIGGED the senate and that 250 senate votes are FAKE (sounds a lot like a GOP argument, LOL)

These who don't care will still not care.

These who think it is rigged will still believe it is rigged

These who believe it is important to have these senators will believe the MFP is evils but they also believed that before

 

So no change

[Rimmer]

An inflammatory post has been removed

[Bangkok Barry]

10 hours ago, eisfeld said:

Why do they think the senators will agree to strip the powers of the senators?

This once again calls into question what planet the Party inhabits. First, we had Pita retaining shares, however worthless, in violation of the election laws which could ban him from being an MP, let alone PM. And now they fan the flames by waving a red flag to the bulls. Alice Through the Looking Glass.

[Bangkok Barry]

4 hours ago, brommers said:

This is a naive and stupid reaction taken in anger. It will certainly not proceed to enactment but will harden the already strong case against MFP in the minds of the military back elements that control matters. MFP will not exist in a very short time because the Con Court will ensure it is dissolved, just like Future Forward.

Agreed.