The Chart Thai Party To Woo Voters By Its Political Reform Plan

[Jai Dee]

The Chart Thai Party will woo voters by its political reform plan

The Chart Thai Party will sell its policies on political and education reforms, sufficiency economy, social equality anti-privatization and corruption elimination when campaigning for the new round of election.

Chart Thai deputy leader Nikorn Chamnong (นิกร จำนง) said the political reform plan calls for amendments to Article 313 of the constitution to allow the people to sign up for a constitutional review and to cut from 90 days to 30 days the time for politicians to be members of a party to be eligible to run in an election.

Mr. Nikorn said the party also wants the Supreme Court to take charge of the investigation on poll fraud and invalidation of victory of poll cheats. The number of MPs needed to support a censure motion against the prime minister should be reduced from two-fifths to one fifth, he said.

Mr. Nikorn said the policy platform will be presented to Chart Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa (บรรหาร ศิลปอาชา) for consideration today.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 15 May 2006

[sriracha john]

The Chart Thai Party will woo voters by its political reform plan

The Chart Thai Party will sell its policies

"sell its policies"? .... uhmm... not the most fortunate use of terminology for a Thai election...

[jdinasia]

well we can always hope that they "outsell" the (likely to be non-existant) TRT party!!

[ColPyat]

well we can always hope that they "outsell" the (likely to be non-existant) TRT party!!

Really?

I have difficulties to see how a political organisation of an old style godfather would be any move towards democracy, transparency and all that in Thailand.

[Siripon]

The problem with selling votes is that the constituents come to expect it, you can't suddenly say you're not handing out this time, now it's time to believe in me.

As happened to Banharn in the recent election when he did not participate,the folks in Suphan got nothing and so didn't feel inclined to vote no against Thaksin.

Unlike the folks in Bangkok and the South where they got nothing but still made their feelings clear.

[hammered]

well we can always hope that they "outsell" the (likely to be non-existant) TRT party!!

Really?

I have difficulties to see how a political organisation of an old style godfather would be any move towards democracy, transparency and all that in Thailand.

Yeah just lived through 5 years of that.

[ColPyat]

Yeah just lived through 5 years of that.

No, you didn't.

Banharn is a mafia godfather of the old school. Thaksin is a corrupt neocon-style businessman.

Proposing that Banharn is one bit better than Thaksin is utter lunacy.

[jdinasia]

hmmm missed where Hammered said anyone mentioned in this discussion was 'better' ... alas the defense of Thaksin continues!

I wonder about the libel considerations above ....

[ColPyat]

hmmm missed where Hammered said anyone mentioned in this discussion was 'better' ... alas the defense of Thaksin continues!

I wonder about the libel considerations above ....

No, it wasn't hammered who mentioned that Banharn was better than Thaksin - it was you (hoping that he "outsells" TRT), and in another thread plus, who described as Banharn being "older and wiser" now, and most likely not willing to tarnish his reputation...

And, regarding the libel issue...well, i will take my chances there... ohhhh the danger... Banharn will go through the trouble and file a suit against some irrelevant anonymus on some internet board, forcing ThaiVisa to reveal my IP.

Defending Thaksin?

[jdinasia]

oi ... yet again ...

Look up at the top ... see the OP ... READ it ... then tell me where I said anything about B'harn. Then see where I EVER described him as older and wiser now .....

Then tell us why you quoted hammered instead of me or both of us seperately ....

Your baiting is getting tiring .... but I suspect it will end

time to take my own advice from the other thread and quit responding ... I want this thread to stay open too

Edited May 15, 2006 by jdinasia

[tettyan]

The Chart Thai Party will woo voters by its political reform plan

Chart Thai deputy leader Nikorn Chamnong (นิกร จำนง) said the political reform plan calls for amendments to Article 313 of the constitution to allow the people to sign up for a constitutional review

OK, not a bad start here. The PAD and the Democrats, as well as many others, have been calling for this for quite some time.

... and to cut from 90 days to 30 days the time for politicians to be members of a party to be eligible to run in an election.

Now we get to the blatantly self-serving part. The problem with politics in the 90s was that local barons would often shift their party allegiances on the basis of bribes or wherever the grass was greener. Thus, proper political parties with coherent identities and policy platforms could never develop. Another by-product of this was unstable coalition governments, which were hostage to cliques of upcountry warlords who constantly threatened to defect from the coalition if their demands were not met. The 90-day rule solved this problem quite well, and we should acknowledge that. Of course, we all know that the rule introduced its own problems - in the event of a snap election, incumbents are handed an overwhelming advantage; too much power to the party leader. Anyways, reducing the 90-day rule to 30-days pretty much makes it toothless, since elections have to be held within either 45 or 60 days end or dissolution of parliament, respectively. What should be done is to reduce the 90 day rule to either 60 or 45 days. That way, the risk of defecting is less if party factions have true grievances with the party leader, while prime ministers can still hold wayward factions in line if their demands are too unreasonable.

Another Chart Thai policy that's not mentioned in the article posted here is to reduce the criteria for winning party list seats from 5% of the vote to 1%. That's even more self-serving. The idea of the constitution again was to discourage the formation of small parties with narrow interests built around local cliques and encourage the formation of parties with nationwide appeal. In that sense, the emergence of TRT on the scene was a step forward. I might not like the policies they offered or their candidate for the PM's chair, but Thailand could do better with national mass parties and fewer regional, localised parties.

Mr. Nikorn said the party also wants the Supreme Court to take charge of the investigation on poll fraud and invalidation of victory of poll cheats. The number of MPs needed to support a censure motion against the prime minister should be reduced from two-fifths to one fifth, he said.

It seems that the courts (save the constitution court perhaps) have been able to operate neutrally and maintain the respect of all sides. My fear is that the more power you give to the courts more power, they will eventually come to be more politicised. I suggest that the current system remain, but give the Constitution Court (or Administrative Court) to right to stay a judgement by the EC if the affected party appeals. Also, if the EC chooses not to rule on a matter or finds no wrongdoing in a case, people should be allowed to appeal to the courts to make a ruling. Under the current system, that can't happen.

But nevertheless, no amount of constitutional tweaking will change things for the better overnight. We already saw that with the introduction of the new constitution of 1997. The important thing is that Thai poltiical institutions be given a chance to evolve. How long did it take the US Supreme Court to right the wrongs of the Dredd Scott case? And didn't it take 90 years after the American Civil War for segregation to be finally outlawed? Yes, in the words of The Economist, Thaksin is a "disease in the body politic". But the problems run much deeper than that, and the solution isn't any easier.

[ColPyat]

oi ... yet again ...

Look up at the top ... see the OP ... READ it ... then tell me where I said anything about B'harn. Then see where I EVER described him as older and wiser now .....

Then tell us why you quoted hammered instead of me or both of us seperately ....

Your baiting is getting tiring .... but I suspect it will end

time to take my own advice from the other thread and quit responding ... I want this thread to stay open too

What?

The topic you responded was Chart Thai, you hoping that they outsell TRT. Well, Chart Thai is Banharn. And, read my post again, please, i have said that a poster named *PLUS* described Banharn as "older and wiser", not you.

And if you want to follow any advice, than be advised to read *TETTYAN's* post very carefully. This is an excellent analyses what might come out of the proposals of the Chart Thai - which in fact is more or less completely undermining the '97 constitutution, more than even Thaksin has ever done, and returning to the old days of shifty powergames of governments blocking themselves by selfserving alliances with upcountry godfathers.

A typical case of "Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire", only that we have far a far larger polarisation under the Thai population along socio-economical and regional lines than we had before.

I really don't understand you people.