No role for EC to hold polls in new charter

[Lite Beer]

CHARTER WRITING
No role for EC to hold polls in new charter
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Ministries to be given the task; move aimed at freeing EC from accusations of being partisan

The new charter will provide for an Election Commission (EC) but it would no longer have the role of organising elections, as the Constitution Drafting Committee is looking at having other state agencies perform the task, CDC spokesman Lertrat Ratanavanich said yesterday. To reduce the EC's workload, the constitution will entrust the Interior, Education and Public Health ministries with holding elections, he said.

"This could end the allegations of partisan behaviour by the Election Commission," he said. The EC will retain its power to control, regulate, investigate and prevent vote-buying, he said. The EC is also authorised to endorse the election result and punish candidates who commit unlawful acts, he said.

The EC will have five members, who will have a six-year term in office. The EC commissioners must have experience in holding elections but should not be members of any political party. They must have been out of a political position for more than five years before applying to be a commissioner, he said.

The EC commissioners will be selected by a committee, whose members will include judges, MPs and educators. The Senate would be authorised to endorse the EC Commissioners, he said. The CDC yesterday also considered the issue of the anti-corruption body but has not yet made any decision on its role and authority, Lertrat said.

Meanwhile, the CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno yesterday defended the decision to allow a non-elected MP to be chosen as prime minister.

He said only 22 countries had made it clear in their constitutions that the position of head of government is reserved for members of the House of Representatives. More than 70 countries having the parliamentary system of governance did not fix such an eligibility criterion, he said. "We don't have any hidden agenda to make any particular person who is not an elected member of the House of Representative the premier, but we have to look at our own social landscape," he said.

"We all know that the May 22 coup was caused by a deadlock, as the previous constitution did not allow a candidate outside Parliament to resolve the political impasse," Borwornsak said.

Thailand has tried many ways to decide the qualification of the person who would be the head of government. The 1978 and 1991 constitutions provided that the Senate Speaker could propose anybody for the post of prime minister. The May 1992 bloody uprising stipulated that the prime minister must be an elected MP and the person proposing the name should be the House Speaker because both persons were elected by the people. "That is the reason why our 1997 Constitution stipulated that only a member of the House of Representative could be the prime minister," said Borwornsak, who was then a key member of the constitution drafting council.

The 2007 Constitution also set the same criterion for premier, he said. But there was a political deadlock when a group of street protesters called on His Majesty the King to pick any non-MP to replace the elected prime minister who the protesters did not want.

However, HM the King could not accept their request as the constitution did not authorise him to do so, said Borwornsak, who had also joined the protests last year.

"The members of the drafting committee have heavily debated this issue and believed that in a normal situation parties who win an election and members of the Lower House, who are all elected persons, would not bring an outsider to lead their government," he said.

The new constitution will make it clear that the House Speaker, who must be elected by voters to the House, would be the person who would propose the name of the prime minister for royal endorsement, he said.

Borwornsak said the CDC promised not to expose the country's main institutions - nationhood, religion and the monarchy - to any risk like the proposal for direct election of the PM. A directly elected PM and cabinet would make the government too strong and vulnerable to become authoritarian, he said.

"What we have to do is to create an immunised constitution that could solve the problems of our country as well as prevent rich people from controlling political parties and politicians from acting in ways that is contrary to the people's interest," he said.

"We proposed the Mixed-Member Proportional [MMP] electoral system with the aim of ensuring the poll result reflects the desires of all people, and allows independent candidates to run in the contest," he said. "This could help solve the problems."

Borwornsak was speaking to the CDC's subcommittee on people's participation in the constitution drafting process.

The first draft was expected to be finished by April 17 next year. The National Reform Council will consider and comment on the draft within May. The CDC later will review, revise and modify the draft after getting inputs from the NRC by July 23, 2015. The CDC will submit the final draft to the NRC in August and the last day for the NRC to make its final decision is August 6, 2015, he said.

If the NRC rejected the draft, both the NRC and the CDC would be dissolved and the junta will appoint a new set of members to write a new draft, he said.

He said there was no clarity on the idea of a people's referendum on the constitution. If the junta wanted a people's referendum, it would have to amend the interim charter for the purpose, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/No-role-for-EC-to-hold-polls-in-new-charter-30250766.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-27

[NongKhaiKid]

Instead of the EC overseeing elections the process will be ' improved ' no doubt by giving it to 3 ministries and then just how many committees will be needed ?

10, 20 any advance on 20, do I hear 30 ?

Edited December 26, 2014 by NongKhaiKid

[smutcakes]

I am sure the Education Ministry particularly have other more pressing matters to attend to both i carrying out their function, and cleaning up their own house before taking on additional works.

I dont really understand how taking certain aspects of work away from the EC will change its perception of partisanship, especially if the same people who are now involved in it, continue to hold their positions. I think a completely clean break with new personnel is required going forward.

I suppose the ongoing issue would then be that any new EC, would presumably be selected by a Committee appointed by the NCPO, and ratified by a Senate appointed by the NCPO, so longer term i dont really believe this is going to have the desired affect, well at least not for a large chunk of the population.

[whybother]

Ministries to be given the task; move aimed at freeing EC from accusations of being partisan

...

To reduce the EC's workload, the constitution will entrust the Interior, Education and Public Health ministries with holding elections, he said.

So, instead of having an independent EC organise elections, they getting ministries that are controlled by politicians to organise elections ... because it frees the EC from accusations of being partisan!

[Eric Loh]

Strong acknowledgement that the EC has erred in the recent election fiasco and should be charged for malfeasance and made to pay for the cost of the last election.

[rickirs]

I completely agree with the EC not having the role of organising elections as an Independent Organization.

But I disagree with delegating its tasks to other state agencies. Entrusting the successor (let's call it the National Election Commission-NEC) to the Executive branch of government is to invite political corruption. The EC should be reformulated into an bipartisan committee selected by the Parliament. Agencies such as the Interior, Education, and Public Health ministries can be employed as "resources" for the NEC to meet its electroral obligations but the NEC would have a separate budget to be approved by Parliament to carry out its obligations.

However, the duty of the EC/NEC should be restricted to planning and holding elections as provided under the Constitution and any laws passed by the Parliament, ie., provide for advanced voting and emergency polling places. It should not have any law enforcement or judicial powers as that would conflict with the authority of the State. It should have investigative powers but only to the extent of supporting referrals of potential criminal violations to the Office of the Attorney General or equivalent prosecurial agency.

[rubl]

Strong acknowledgement that the EC has erred in the recent election fiasco and should be charged for malfeasance and made to pay for the cost of the last election.

More like a strong acknowledgement that with all rubbish thrown at them some stuck. With or without guild, it's better to make a few changes.

[rubl]

Strictly speaking I see no role for either parliament or Senate in an arranging and conducting an election.

[visionchaser45]

Strong acknowledgement that the EC has erred in the recent election fiasco and should be charged for malfeasance and made to pay for the cost of the last election.

Yeah, not the street thugs who forced the polls to close and beat and intimidated those attempting to cast their ballots.