Democrats Decision On Charter Amendments Deferred

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Democrats' decision on charter amendments deferred

By Kornchanok Raksaseri

The Nation

Krabi

Democrat MPs Saturday almost equally split whether to support charter amendments so they asked the 19-member party executive board to make a final decision.

Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban said the party executives should be able to make the final decision within next week.

After over five hours of discussion during a party's seminar in Krabi, Suthep said the MPs agreed to follow the decision of the party executives who must consider arguments made by MPs during the seminar.

"Today we have the most Democrats joining the meeting. And we opened chance for them to give opinions on Constitution amendments. They discussed whether to support the two articles proposed by coalition parties. They are Article 190 on international agreements and the other Article on electoral system," Suthep said.

"This is not time-buying. It should be clear next week," Suthep said. "We can't take too long time. We must have an answer."

Suthep said the party executives would put priority to the people's and the country's benefits, not the party's.

Amid the pressure for charter amendment by coalition partners, especially Chart Thai Pattana Party, Suthep, who is the government manager, said last week he would give the answer to the partners on Monday after the seminar.

At the beginning of the seminar, Suthep requested the MPs to vote on the decision.

The Democrats came second in the the 2007 election, which used the multiple-seat constituency electoral system set by the 2007 Constitution. The other coalition partners prefer the single-seat system. Supporting charter amendment is one of the conditions the coalition partners raised before joining the government.

Bangkok MP Boonyod Sooktinthai said about 30 MPs expressed their opinions during the seminar, raising various arguments and scenarios for the MPs to consider.

"There are pros and cons for the multiple-seat constituencies and single-sat constituencies. The scenarios of competition and the problem of vote-buying (related to the election system). The speakers also talked about whether the government would survive the political crisis or not," Boonyod said.

One of the reasons behind the decision not to vote on the issue Saturday was that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva could not join the debate until the end of the meeting, Boonyod said.

Abhisit joined the seminar briefly and left the seminar in the afternoon.

Sources said Abhisit told the seminar that charter amendments must not be done just for the benefits of politicians

Wirat Kalayasiri proposed that the issue should be decided by the executive board so that the MPs would not have to confront each other and cause rifts among them. He received support for the proposal from chief advisor Chuan Leekpai, according to many MPs.

"The atmosphere was so stressful. It was like making decision on marriage," Boonyod said.

A source, who asked not to be named, said Chuan said to the MPs whether the system is large or small constituency was not as important as eradicating corruption. Moreover, whether MPs would win vote is up to the MPs' diligence.

-- The Nation 2010-01-24

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