Political reform committee pushing for fair, clean elections

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Political reform committee pushing for fair, clean elections

BANGKOK, 12 December 2015 (NNT) - The political reform committee under the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) is pushing for a reform in the country’s electoral system, hoping to see fair and clean elections.

Speaking about the committee’s reform plan, chairperson Seri Suwanpanont said the team has formulated a political reform draft which focuses on 6 urgent matters including the composition of national and local politicians, clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society, measures to prevent fraud and corruption, the establishment of organizations to scrutinize the legality of the use of state power, encouraging positive political culture which leads to long term political solutions, and promoting national unity and reconciliation.

He believes the aforesaid plan will help ensure a complete and sustainable political reform.

In times of political crisis, he said the Senate which is an existing body should step in and resolve the crisis, instead of forming the National Strategic Reform and Reconciliation Commission to do the same job.

-- NNT 2015-12-12

[londonthai]

when are they?

[thesetat2013]

They should take their time and make sure they do a good job. They will have lots of time to make any needed changes that would affect an elections since it is going to be a long time before an election is allowed.

[jaltsc]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Edited December 12, 2015 by jaltsc

[dominique355]

How about the right of the voters to meet and openly discuss politics and politicians so that they can make an educated vote?

[trainman34014]

''Fair'' and ''Clean'' are two words not known to Thai Politicians !

[lucky11]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

[Srikcir]

the establishment of organizations to scrutinize the legality of the use of state power

Such an organization already exists - the Royal Thai Military. It has its own constitutional power; can't get anymore independent than that.

If the NRSA is pushing for a reform in the country’s electoral system, what is the point of the CDC putting its own version in the draft charter? CDC Chairman Meechai has already decided that there is no existing electoral system in the world that would be deemed suitable for Thai society. If it was for a Thai autocratic society, he'd be correct. But the idea of a democratic constitutional monarchy keeps surfacing.

[jesimps]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

No need to worry your biased little head pal because there aint gonna be elections for a long long time, and when there are, they won't be worth tuppence because any government will be just a puppet of a higher power.

[lucky11]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

No need to worry your biased little head pal because there aint gonna be elections for a long long time, and when there are, they won't be worth tuppence because any government will be just a puppet of a higher power.

'Any government will be a puppet of a higher power'

Now why does that ring a bell with me with what went on before?

All they are doing is cutting out the 'foul play' and shenanigans in providing free and fair elections with a level playing field - surely, you want this, don't you? It will be a whole lot more democratic than the last time!! After all, the US say's that an election is the only way to attain democracy and you will just have to be a little more patient for those as they are clearly flawed and need adjusting.

[waldroj]

The reality is going to be entirely different to the draft! So different in fact, that the authors could be burnt at the stake for heresy for daring to identify the junta's failures over the last 18 months, and suggesting urgent action is necessary.

[ikke]

Fair and clean, is not on the Junta menu..... only yellow, and if not, another coup.

[tbthailand]

like 2011, ...

[rubl]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

[EnglishJohn]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

No need to worry your biased little head pal because there aint gonna be elections for a long long time, and when there are, they won't be worth tuppence because any government will be just a puppet of a higher power.

Hey - look at that.

A list of arguments which are based on established facts then a whining reply which ignores them completely and comes out with some childish nonsense which would be more at home in a playground of 6 year olds.

How absolutely normal.

[sjaak327]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

[sjaak327]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

No need to worry your biased little head pal because there aint gonna be elections for a long long time, and when there are, they won't be worth tuppence because any government will be just a puppet of a higher power.

Hey - look at that.

A list of arguments which are based on established facts then a whining reply which ignores them completely and comes out with some childish nonsense which would be more at home in a playground of 6 year olds.

How absolutely normal.

Actually, for anyone that follows the drafting of the new charter and the provisions being requested by the NCPO, the above is far from nonsense. Whether or not they become reality remains to be seen, but the direction in which the charter is going could very well prove jesimps right.

[waitforusalso]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

People don't need to be purged from politics, they are voted out. It's called the voter's democratic right.

If these policies were so bad, then surely the people would have realised they were duped & vote PT out. Untenable policies can surely only be used to fool the voting public once. TRT were popular because they had policies that benefited the majority of the voters. The voters rewarded those policies with their political loyalty, but that loyalty would only last until the policies of PT failed them.

The fact that the yellow/army coalition colluded to bring down the government only helps to cover up PT's failed policies and diverts the blame away from them in the eye's of their supporters. Now instead of being angry & disillusioned at PT's failed policies they are angry at Suthep & the junta, which will lead them to rally their support for PT.

19 failed coups & they try again, but they never give democracy a chance to sort things out. Go figure!

[LannaGuy]

it'll be any colour as long as it's yellow and everyone knows it, some deny it and a few on here ignore it as their fascist pulses race at the thought of the Army in charge

[tbthailand]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

hey, he's just being his usual obtuse self, ... in this case, taking a string of posts that clearly do not believe that "Fair and clean elections" and a normal, empowered government of the people is part of the junta's agenda and turns that into posters being against fair and clean elections.

blathering...

I put him on ignore. It's not worth the effort to discuss with someone who is only here to ... yeah, what he said....

[rubl]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

Well, if all parties participate in vote buying, none of them are really democratic, only social in spreading the wealth around in their own gentle fashion I guess.

[rubl]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

hey, he's just being his usual obtuse self, ... in this case, taking a string of posts that clearly do not believe that "Fair and clean elections" and a normal, empowered government of the people is part of the junta's agenda and turns that into posters being against fair and clean elections.

blathering...

I put him on ignore. It's not worth the effort to discuss with someone who is only here to ... yeah, what he said....

You seem to imply a successful discussion is one where all agree with you. If one dares to have a different opinion one is immediately portrait as obtuse, blathering.

BTW your link to my post in the 'bike for Dad' topic is a bit tasteless. Mind you, as American you may not know the pleasure some of us get from those National Holidays related to our Royal Families and National History.

[kannot]

when are they?

with the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow on Shergars back

[sjaak327]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

Well, if all parties participate in vote buying, none of them are really democratic, only social in spreading the wealth around in their own gentle fashion I guess.

Proposing policies that benefit people isn't vote buying. And is at the very core of the system called democracy. It happens all over the world, not just in Thailand. The key to democracy is acceptance when your side doesn't win. That happens all over the world as well, except in Thailand....

[rubl]

Proposing policies that benefit people isn't vote buying. And is at the very core of the system called democracy. It happens all over the world, not just in Thailand. The key to democracy is acceptance when your side doesn't win. That happens all over the world as well, except in Thailand....

Proposing responsible policies which will be implemented in a transparent accountable manner, you mean?

The key to democracy is still listening to those who didn't win.

[LannaGuy]

Proposing policies that benefit people isn't vote buying. And is at the very core of the system called democracy. It happens all over the world, not just in Thailand. The key to democracy is acceptance when your side doesn't win. That happens all over the world as well, except in Thailand....

Proposing responsible policies which will be implemented in a transparent accountable manner, you mean?

The key to democracy is still listening to those who didn't win.

ah right you mean those that didn't "win" because the army took over with guns? yes I get it and I can see how the good general does "listen"

[GinBoy2]

From comments I understand posters here are not in favour of fair and clean elections. How curious.

Mind you. the elections in 2011 were relatively fair and clean. It's just the things around the elections which need to be tackled. Excluding parties controlled by criminal fugitives for instance. Prevent such indirect vote buying as the 'self-financing' RPPS. Now that would already help a lot.

Of course the real grassroot red-shirts may want to setup a political party to look after their interests rather than those of politicians and cronies. That in itself would be a big step in democracy already.

Yeah let's prevent indirect vote buying, there will be no party left to participate in elections of course.

The OP reads like some commercial, a lot of promises but not a single concrete measure was mentioned.

People that pay attention already know where this is going. Elections yes, a government that can peruse their agenda, no way. Democracy 'Thai style'

Well, if all parties participate in vote buying, none of them are really democratic, only social in spreading the wealth around in their own gentle fashion I guess.

It's interesting that many seem to think that the whole vote buying and corruption started with Thaksin.

Interesting article from The Economist, back in 2002, a universe far far away

Funny how their analysis of the pre Thaksin world seems Oh So Similar to the Thaksin world so many seem to view as the originator of all evil..

http://www.economist.com/node/998348

[seajae]

the only way we will ever see free and fair elections in Thailand is if the shins are banned, parties must be made up from only those living in Thailand without any criminal conviction, ban the yellows(this would include suthep) and reds as well as make them all illegal then make all parties present their policies and the costings to the people of the country in all the different regions so that everyone is actually aware of what is really going on. Add to this that any party found to be paying people to vote for them, supplying transport to vote for them, supplying anything else to vote for them will mean an automatic disqualification from the voting process. Maybe then we will see fair and free elections

Edited December 13, 2015 by seajae

[sjaak327]

Proposing policies that benefit people isn't vote buying. And is at the very core of the system called democracy. It happens all over the world, not just in Thailand. The key to democracy is acceptance when your side doesn't win. That happens all over the world as well, except in Thailand....

Proposing responsible policies which will be implemented in a transparent accountable manner, you mean?

The key to democracy is still listening to those who didn't win.

Responsible policies ? Hmm there aren't many of those around in practice.

The problem in Thailand is, that those that didn't win take the law into their own hands and seize power. I'm sure people were listening to them, of course the balance of power doesn't require the winners to act on whatever they have been told.

[dominique355]

"...clean and effective political system which is deemed suitable for Thai society."

" Suitable for Thai society". So does that mean it's still OK for candidates and their cronies to hand out 300 baht to each voter as they enter the voting sites?

Just the opposite now that the Shins have effectively been purged from politics.

Blatant unaffordable and unwise populism to garner votes will be disallowed to prevent the Pheu Thai party from bribing the voters with lunatic schemes like the rice scam. You only have to look at all their populist policies that they deceived the people with such as the 1 tablet 1 child scheme, the first time car/house buyer schemes, of course the real monstrosity the 'great rice scam' and anything they used to dupe the people, to realise that they were designed for one purpose ie: to gain power (through cheating and then to ram through Thaksin's amnesty) - the fact that this failed and effectively brought the government down was 'beautiful irony'!!

The first time house buyer scheme - and it is indeed a scheme - is a child of the present military government.

Oops!