CDC urged to review move to take away Senate's impeachment power

[webfact]

CDC urged to review move to take away Senate's impeachment power
THE NATION

TRANSFER OF POWER TO NACC, CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WILL CREATE CONFUSION: EXPERTS

BANGKOK: -- THE CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission has been urged to review the proposal to deprive the Senate of the right to impeach political office holders and give that power to the anti-graft agency and Constitutional Court.

CDC member General Niwat Sripen said drafters were discussing impeachment via the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and Constitutional Court, as desired by some members.

Suriyasai Katasila, director of Rangsit University's Thailand Reform Institute, urged the CDC to maintain the Senate's capacity to impeach.

He said if the CDC removed the Senate's power to impeach political office holders, there would be no need to have it. He said if that power was transferred to the NACC and the Constitutional Court, it would be unclear which one would do the impeaching and select the members of independent agencies. He said the CDC's reasons to remove the Senate's impeachment power were that the Senate had failed to impeach any politician because three-fifths of senators had to vote to do so.

"The reasons are not valid. The CDC should change the selection process of the Senate by opting for an indirect election featuring various professional sectors. This way we will get different groups of people to become senators. The probing or investigative process of the Senate should also be improved,'' he said.

Suriyasai said the CDC must maintain the proposal to give the public the right to impeach national and local politicians and it should reduce red tape so it could be done more easily.

Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama of the Pheu Thai Party called on the CDC to review its decision to cancel having elected senators and deprive the Senate's right to impeach politicians.

He urged the CDC to ban the spouses and relatives of MP candidates from being allowed to contest Senate elections to prevent allegations that the Senate was a "spousal house".

Noppadon said if the Senate still had the power to select members of independent agencies, they should be linked with the public by being elected by them.

He said having the Senate with up to 200 members going through impeachment complaints was better than having an independent agency with nine members doing so. If the latter were the case, a majority vote of five would be enough to impeach a politician. He said not allowing the Senate to do that and handing the power to the NACC and the Constitutional Court would result in weak checks and balances.

Former charter writer Kanin Boonsuwan voiced opposition to haing a non-elected PM, saying the proposal was undemocratic.

"If the CDC is planning lots of rules and regulations on MP qualifications, the purpose should be to ensure that the PM wins a MP seat. This way it means Thais have the right to vote for MPs but not the PM,'' he said.

He also opposes the move to count party-list votes by taking into account the votes won by losing MPs. The democratic system of the majority vote would be changed into a ruling system of a minority vote. "This means the people have the right to vote but have no right to decide their fate,'' he said.

He said the Senate not having the power to impeach politicians was a step towards having a non-elected PM.

The party that wins the election and had an elected PM would not survive long because of the heavy control of the Election Commission, the NACC and the Constitution Court. "On the other hand, a non-elected PM would be guarded by these agencies,'' Kanin said.

"The plan leading to a non-elected PM will not materialise if the Senate is fully elected. This is a key issue that will determine if the charter draft of the Meechai-led CDC will pass a public referendum,'' Kanin said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/CDC-urged-to-review-move-to-take-away-Senates-impe-30273520.html

-- The Nation 2015-11-23

[candide]

Sound proposal. If the problem is the risk of a "spousal house" then the most simple way to avoid it is to ban spouses from contesting Senate elections. But I'm afraid there isn't enough Thai logic in it.

[Srikcir]

"CDC must maintain the proposal to give the public the right to impeach national and local politicians"

That right can be made very simple: 100% elected Senate - full participatory democracy!

But obvously the CDC does not trust even a 50% elected Senate that has consistently failed to impeach public officials. The CDC views that record as a failure of the system ... rather it may have been a success of the system. But CDC seems determined to raise the threat level of impreachment of public officials as a means to controlling their political behavior.