'Reform before election does not need referendum'

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POLITICS
'Reform before election does not need referendum'
KRIS BHROMSUTHI
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- TWO senior members of the National Reform Council (NRC) issued a joint statement yesterday proposing "reform before election" that should take six months to a year, without the need for a referendum.

Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, chairman of the NRC's political reform panel, and Seree Suwanpanont, chair of NRC legal reform committee, proposed that charter drafters create a list of organic laws and other important bills, then submit the list to the NRC to draft the bills.

The Cabinet, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) should then pass the new laws, they said.

After, the Cabinet, with approval from the NCPO and the Election Commission, should set the date for a general election.

The whole process should take six months to one year, Sombat and Seree said in the statement.

Sombat said it was important that key reform bills are passed under the current administration, as experience showed that civil governments can't be relied on to pass bills required by the constitution.

Sombat and his fellow panel members met yesterday with charter drafters, and told them the draft constitution offers "nothing new" to the former constitution; in fact, certain charter provisions could worsen the political problems that have plagued the country for over a decade.

He said the draft charter was similar to constitutions of the past in which a prime minister had to come from a parliamentary vote, and MPs could not be prime minister at the same time, the PM had the power to dissolve parliament and parliament could submit a no-confidence motion.

"How is this a reform? They are very similar [to the previous charter], but only with change in the electoral system, which could worsen problems because it would lead to weak coalition governments that will be an obstacle to the country's development," the NRC's political reform chairman said.

Sombat said the goal of political reform should be to create strong and independent governments that could effectively solve the country's problems and create strong a check-and-balance system to regulate the government.

The underlying reform principles laid out by Sombat clearly contradict those of CDC president Borwornsak Uwanno, who said the "tiger" - a reference to the so-called parliamentary dictatorships - was created by the 1997 charter that he helped draft, and the country now needs to find a way to "put it back in the cage".

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-Ngam said he supported the draft charter provision to create a National Reform Assembly to ensure that future governments carry on reform responsibilities set by the NRC.

Wissanu said he was afraid that civil governments would not pursue reform agendas, so setting up an independent organisation such as the National Reform Assembly to monitor, help and contribute to reform progress was necessarily.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Reform-before-election-does-not-need-referendum-30261914.html


-- The Nation 2015-06-09

[Eric Loh]

Lost count on just how many PDRC supporters in the junta government. Sombat, a close confidant and strategist for Suthep. No wonder people speculate that both camps are in cahoot.

[Praematura]

It really doesn't make sense to have a referendum on the charter that eliminates the democratic right to pick a pm. Better to take that right away at the outset and let the masses vote for whomever is hand picked.