Argument rages on over Thai Senate changes

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POLITICS
Argument rages on over Senate changes
The Nation


Pheu Thai MPs Khattiya Sawatdiphol, Theerarat Samrejvanich and Visaradee Techateerawat hold a press conference at Parliament House yesterday

BANGKOK: -- Parliamentarians continued attacking the charter amendment bill in relation to the election of senators yesterday, saying the checks and balances between the Lower and Upper Houses would be undermined.

The joint House-Senate session yesterday began debating Article 3 of the amendment bill in the second reading, which states that all 200 senators must be elected.

Appointed Senator General Somjet Boonthanom explained that if all senators were elected, they would not be able to do their duty in a balanced manner. He went on to say that it had been proven that elected senators could be controlled by politicians, who could then interfere in the work of independent agencies, adding that this is what led to the 2006 coup.

"This bill does not just go backwards, it also allows them to continue renewing their position endlessly. They will be allowed to keep running in polls without a break. Therefore, electing senators is not the best answer," he said.

Another appointed senator, Poratep Sucharitkul, said democracy did not translate to elections only, but also needed transparent management, as well as checks and balances between the three pillars of power.

"I believe those who want to run in the Senate election will have to rely on political parties or they may lose. Once they depend on politicians, then we cannot avoid a parliamentary dictatorship," he said.

The charter amendment bill aims to have all 200 senators elected, instead of appointing almost half of the 150 senators, as happens now. According to the bill, voters can only opt for one senator and the number of senators per province depends on the population. The bill also allows parents, spouses, MPs' children and political-office holders to become candidates, as well as former MPs, political party members and politicians.

The joint House-Senate session will continue its deliberation from next Tuesday to Thursday.

Meanwhile, PM's Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said the House had until midnight on Monday to complete consideration of the second and third readings of the budget bill for the 2014 fiscal year. If the House failed to meet the deadline, the government would have to send the bill, without amendments, to the Senate for approval. The House is set to debate the budget bill today and on Monday.


-- The Nation 2013-08-23

[CWMcMurray]

I can't see why electing all Senators would be a bad thing...

Who is in charge of appointing senators under the current system?

What is the justification for that person or group to have the power to appoint 50% of senators?

And what checks and balances are in place to ensure that the party handling the appointments is doing so I. A correct and transparent manner?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[NongKhaiKid]

It's a poisoned chalice as both elections and appointments in Thailand are highly suspect.

BTW what was the value of showing a photo of 3 attractive PTP female MPs, proof positive they are more attractive than their Dem counterparts ?

[Robby nz]

Not just the elected V appointed its all the other bits that go with it.

A change to all elected may not be so bad without them but to be able to pack the senate with family or party members and leave them there forever does not sound such a great thing, unless of course you belong to the ruling family party.

The PM wont like the Pix, completion for the prettiest face is not on.

[Ianatlarge]

Pheu Thai has attractive senators. I will keep my comments simple: democracy = election. As for trusting a general??

[Ricardo]

If the Senate is 100%-elected, then it will reflect fairly-exactly the current popularity of the political-parties, in which case it is just a duplicate of the lower-house & therefore pointless/unnecessary, because it doesn't add anything. So just abolish it, and save money and useless jobs ! Not that loss-of pay/perks will be popular with whoever currently enjoys them !

If it is to act as part of the current checks-and-balances, then it needs to be slightly-less driven by current-politics, so some part of it should ideally be appointed & part elected.

How you select the people to be appointed is the key question, should it be a resting-place for older politicians and people whose other service to the country hopefully gives them some wisdom, which can be used to tone-down the latest political-fads/ideas/legislation, and allow a pause for reflection.

By definition, two houses both fully-elected would provide no checks or balances, and be a step backwards. But that's where PTP seem to want to take it.

Hopefully the new proposals would be rejected by the voters, or fail to reach a sufficient majority to pass, IF the long-promised referendum on any constitutional-changes actually takes place.

[chooka]

Phue Thai definitely has the best collection of attractive politicians, Australia should start recruiting from Thailand.

[johnnie20110]

It's a poisoned chalice as both elections and appointments in Thailand are highly suspect.

BTW what was the value of showing a photo of 3 attractive PTP female MPs, proof positive they are more attractive than their Dem counterparts ?

No, just that they utilize very skillful cosmetic surgeons as compared with earlier photos.

[Nickymaster]

It's a poisoned chalice as both elections and appointments in Thailand are highly suspect.

BTW what was the value of showing a photo of 3 attractive PTP female MPs, proof positive they are more attractive than their Dem counterparts ?

Those 3 ladies must be the PT political heavyweights. It just shows pretty young ladies can be good lawmakers too.

Or maybe they were rewarded for something..

[bigbamboo]

Senators should be elected along the lines of two per province but with the stipulation that they must be from that province in the same way people are required to 'return home' to vote.

Possibly other criteria could be added as am aid to safeguard against family blocs..... for example no family can be represented in both houses.

[Zolt]

I can't see why electing all Senators would be a bad thing...

Who is in charge of appointing senators under the current system?

What is the justification for that person or group to have the power to appoint 50% of senators?

And what checks and balances are in place to ensure that the party handling the appointments is doing so I. A correct and transparent manner?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

73 of the 150 Thai senators are appointed by a panel of 5 people.

- The President of the Constitutional Court.

- Chairman of the Election Commission

- Chairman of the State Audit Commission

- A senior Supreme Court Justice

- A judge of the Supreme Administrative Court.

The whole system if a bit of a closed loop, since for exemple members of the constitutional court are appointed by the Supreme Court, Administrative Court and Senate. Basically the whole thing is dependent on the Thai Judiciary system, which itself reports to no one.

[johnnie20110]

73 of the 150 Thai senators are appointed by a panel of 5 people.

- The President of the Constitutional Court.

- Chairman of the Election Commission

- Chairman of the State Audit Commission

- A senior Supreme Court Justice

- A judge of the Supreme Administrative Court.

The whole system if a bit of a closed loop, since for exemple members of the constitutional court are appointed by the Supreme Court, Administrative Court and Senate. Basically the whole thing is dependent on the Thai Judiciary system, which itself reports to no one.

1. Actually, as per Articles 113 and 114 of the Constitution, the Senator Selection Committee consists of:

- President of the Constitutional Court

- Chairperson of the Election Commission

- President of the Ombudsmen

- Chairperson of the National Counter Corruption Commission

- Chairperson of the State Audit Commission

- Supreme Court judge

- Supreme Administrative Court judge

2. The committee selects the Senators from persons nominated by academic institutions, the public sector, the private sector, and professional organisations.

3. Review (amongst others) Articles 197, 198, 199, 200 of the Constitution regarding judges. To say that they report to no one is blatantly false and misleading.

[Neilly]

"I believe those who want to run in the Senate election will have to rely on political parties or they may lose. Once they depend on politicians, then we cannot avoid a parliamentary dictatorship," he said.

Think that sums up the argument quite well....never depend on a politician

[Zolt]

1. Actually, as per Articles 113 and 114 of the Constitution, the Senator Selection Committee consists of:

- President of the Constitutional Court

- Chairperson of the Election Commission

- President of the Ombudsmen

- Chairperson of the National Counter Corruption Commission

- Chairperson of the State Audit Commission

- Supreme Court judge

- Supreme Administrative Court judge

2. The committee selects the Senators from persons nominated by academic institutions, the public sector, the private sector, and professional organisations.

3. Review (amongst others) Articles 197, 198, 199, 200 of the Constitution regarding judges. To say that they report to no one is blatantly false and misleading.

Thanks for that, my info was out of date on the first part.

As for 3 you are indeed correct, article 200 being the main relevant one, but I don't think I can continue discussing who the courts report to without breaking forum rules. Suffice to say that the democratic process has no say in this whole part of the Thai establishment.

Indeed, the idea is for the Senate to be non-partisan and include members of academia, public and private sector instead of just politicians. But just because they're appointed doesn't meant these people are automatically free of political affiliations.