Thai politics: Reconciliation 'will be aided by MMA'

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WRITING A NEW DRAFT
Reconciliation 'will be aided by MMA'
Kasamakon Chanwanpen
The Nation

CDC chief shrugs off criticism that voting system is untested

BANGKOK: -- The proposed electoral system in which votes for losing constituency candidates would be calculated as party-list votes was designed to promote reconciliation as Parliament seats would be distributed proportionally among political parties, Constitution Drafting Commission chairman Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday.

He said the drafting panel had tried to come up with a new method that would make every party matter in every area.

In response to criticism that the mixed-member apportionment system has never been used elsewhere in the world, Meechai said: "Thais are also capable of writing their very own constitution which fits its context, and we do not necessarily need to take everything from the Western books.

"When we receive a Western education, it doesn't mean that we do exactly as they say in the book. Rather, we should learn and apply it to our own country."

Meechai said that instead of saying Thailand should be like other countries, people should ask themselves if other countries were like us.

"Is there anywhere in the world where an elected government would say it didn't allocate a budget to some particular area because it didn't win an election there?" Meechai said.

Meechai dismissed those critics who warned the new voting method would undermine big parties.

He said the drafters had no intention either to weaken or strengthen future governments or to dictate their forms.

Concerning the fear big parties might attempt to get more MPs by having nominee parties running in an election, he said it was possible to use nominees in any voting system but the CDC would try to come up with a counter-measure to prevent it.

He reiterated that every vote counted under the MMA system, which would encourage citizens to exercise their voting right.

When their favourite candidates lost an election, the votes would still matter as they would be counted in the party-list system. The list would be opened for the voters to see who benefited from their votes.

While it has not been settled whether an elected government will be weak or strong, Meechai has said he is sure about one thing - if a party gained a large number of constituency seats it could form a single-party government.

The proportion of constituency MPs would be more than the party list, he said.

The committee studying legislative structures had not revealed the exact ratio of the two systems, he said, but they had not ruled out 3:1.

In response to the belief that the system would not reflect voter intent, he explained that everyone's vote would result in the election of an MP - either constituency or party-list. The latter was better because they had higher chance of becoming ministers.

The qualifications needed to contest an election had not been resolved, Meechai said. However, the CDC would make the qualifications clear.

For example, those involved in electoral fraud might face a life ban, he said, adding that whether or not that punishment would be retroactive had not yet been discussed.

Apichart Sukhagganond, chairman of the CDC sub-committee on the executive structure, said the MMA system would focus on the prevention of election fraud.

He said the CDC would stress fraud-prevention and suppression measures by writing the principles needed to obtain this in the charter draft and its details in the charter's supplement laws.

He said the organic laws would cover the election system, election campaigns and measures to curb vote-buying and electoral fraud.

Prapan Naikowit, chairman of the CDC sub-committee on legislation structure, said his committee would heed public opinion on the MMA.

He said questionnaires on the new system would be drafted and would not repeat what the previous CDC had asked.

The CDC committee studying the executive branches is scheduled to present its report today.

However, one of its members, political scientist Supachai Yavaprabhasi, revealed that among the crucial points the sub-panel was still debating was how to select a prime minister. As a result, it might reschedule the meeting for next Tuesday.

Norachit Sinhaseni, a CDC spokesman, said that panel was still working on the fundamental state policy chapter including the guidelines for a government to disclose information on objectives, procedures and the budgets for any policy which might affect the national treasury.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Reconciliation-will-be-aided-by-MMA-30272151.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-03

[oneday]

They are never going to understand what Democracy truly is.

[JAG]

Oh they understand it. They also understand what it would mean for them, not the country but for them. That is why they seized power, and that is why they are working so hard to ensure that democracy is supressed

[jcisco]

Here is a radical idea to those in power. Why don't you just write what you want and how you want in the constitution and that's it. Then that goes to the people and they can bang out what it is they want.

The repeated and clearly ineffective junta after elected dance doesn't appear to work well. So try something different just write it down, probably won't surprise anyone. Then perhaps the two sides might get somewhere.

[AlQaholic]

Lemmesee......How many governments are there in the world similar to that of Thailand.....

1. Russia

2. N.Korea

3. China

4. Cuba

5. Zimbabwe

6. ISIS if it counts.....

7. Most Arab nations

I just counted up the most disliked and dip-shitted countries in the world....

No not ISIS after all, they are just a bunch of lunatics and do not count as a govt.

Edited November 3, 2015 by AlQaholic

[jerojero]

Thai know better than West. That why follow no plan, new way do election, tell West p. Off.

[AlQaholic]

I heard of this revolutionary way of doing an election, people vote for a party, and that's it! one vote for one party per citizen. Amazing!

[waldroj]

The proposed electoral system … was designed to promote reconciliation.

Which is something the junta has so clearly failed to do!

[WitawatWatawit]

How stupid. This waters down the power of a vote. It means a voter loses control of how he/she wants to exercise their right to select whom they want in the halls of power. Instead of messing around with tricky concepts that have no validity, they should be spending their energy on working out new ways to prevent vote buying and associated corruption, and training officials in ways to implement these procedues..

[Baerboxer]

MMA = Mixed Martial Arts ?

General and the crook going one to one?

Yingluck as the round card girl?

Might work

[Srikcir]

"we do not necessarily need to take everything from the Western books"

Not even from non-Western nations like Japan, Taiwan, India, Australia, South Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fuji, Russia, etc.?

The CDC should just be honest and declare that Thai people cannot be trusted with any kind of democratic electoral system. Simply provide for a change in government every four years using the NCPO or its equivalent to decide the next government. It would be much easier to just rely on five generals to decide regime change than 40 million Thais. That works for North Korea.

As a side effect, EC and NACC could be eliminated.

[FangFerang]

"When we receive a Western education, it doesn't mean that we do exactly as they say in the book. Rather, we should learn and apply it to our own country."

Best quote of the week, on a large number of levels, intentional and otherwise. On positive notes, this would help keep Wall Street from invading Thailand, and do away with the irrational notion that winner-takes-all democracy is a tried and true representational democratic methodology.

Prayuth will be in public power until just after the Nameless Event, and by then he and the 4,999 other generals in the Private Club (no new members, please) would have solidified their death grip on the power behind the scenes.

Everyone knows it, and no is allowed to talk about it.

That doesn't mean ignorance; just no discussion.

Edited November 3, 2015 by FangFerang

[Baerboxer]

"we do not necessarily need to take everything from the Western books"

Not even from non-Western nations like Japan, Taiwan, India, Australia, South Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fuji, Russia, etc.?

The CDC should just be honest and declare that Thai people cannot be trusted with any kind of democratic electoral system. Simply provide for a change in government every four years using the NCPO or its equivalent to decide the next government. It would be much easier to just rely on five generals to decide regime change than 40 million Thais. That works for North Korea.

As a side effect, EC and NACC could be eliminated.

Isn't Fuji a Japanese restaurant chain?

Have they declared themselves a country?

India - the world's biggest democracy - and the most corrupt. Russia - oppose Putin and get shot. Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan - yeah, right.

You missed Zimbabwe and Cambodia - both run by close friends of the crook who was running PTP puppet regime.

[tbthailand]

The story behind the story: the sorry a$$ political party known as the Democrats will be aided by the MMA....