Critics say CDC's list for Thai PM hopefuls 'meaningless'

[webfact]

Critics say CDC's list for PM hopefuls 'meaningless'
KASAMAKORN CHANWANPEN
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- POLITICIANS and a political critic agreed yesterday that the charter writers’ proposal for a list of prime ministerial candidates was unnecessary and unlikely to bring any added value to Thai politics.

Their comments came after the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) said it would stipulate that each political party submit a list of five prime ministerial candidates from which Parliament could select a leader.

The winner should win with an absolute majority in the House to take the government's top job of PM.

The drafters said this system would allow voters to see beforehand who the potential prime minister was. The procedure would also help facilitate public administration during a critical time of power change.

A new prime minister would be elected from a list to replace the embattled one and prevent a political vacuum, they said.

However, political critic Suriyasai Katasila yesterday said that under the old system there was already provision for the prime minister to be replaced with a new one - there was never any prohibition on that. It was nothing new, he said, adding that the drafters were merely complicating the matter unnecessarily.

Suriyasai, who is also the director of Rangsit University's Thailand Reform Institute, said he was uncertain of the CDC's intention. Maybe they had wanted the voters to see and consider future prime ministers - but the old system allowed that already, he said.

"Voters knew the party leader or the top party-list candidate would become the government head," Suriyasai said. He believed the top position would still fall to one of the two major parties. The candidates would be the party members anyway, he said, adding he did not think any outsider would want to risk their reputation and be on the list, given the political heat the country was facing.

He explained that those highly qualified with a good profile would run the election themselves rather than have their name "filling up" the list.

Meanwhile, politicians from the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties - the country's two largest - agreed that the PM candidate list was meaningless and unnecessary.

Former Democrat deputy leader Issara Somchai said it had always been widely acknowledged that the first person on the party list would become the premier. Personally, he believed that to have each party propose a five-name list would only cause confusion.

If a premier proposal was really necessary, he said one single name should suffice and it should be the party leader. He doubted how a non-leader could run the country when he did not hold power in the party.

Whether or not the prime minister should be a House member, Somchai said he was not worried.

He said he understood that a non-elected PM would need to win at least three out of five votes in Parliament. By contrast, an MP candidate would need only an absolute majority, he said.

Somchai said if a candidate could gain three-fifths of the votes, then it meant he was accepted by the House. That would be acceptable, he said.

Pongthep Thepkanchana, a Pheu Thai key member and legal expert, was not impressed with the idea. He said, "Okay, so there are five people on the list. But who exactly is the prime minister?"

The politician said he was worried for the voters. They might like a person on the list - but there was no way to be sure that that person would become the PM. He said voters would just have to take the chance.

As a result, he advocated a return to the old system, in which voting for a party was like voting for its leader to become premier. Phongthep said the system was already a sensible one.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Critics-say-CDCs-list-for-PM-hopefuls-meaningless-30275096.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-17

[Eric Loh]

The CDC must be seen and perceived to be working to earn that much of tax payers money even if they continue to churn out meaningless proposals. The cold slap by politicians is totally warranted.

[Srikcir]

"the country's two largest - agreed that the PM candidate list was meaningless and unnecessary."

And yet CDC Chairman Meechai will no doubt continue to claim that his draft version reflects the majority of Thais.

This latest draft will fail a public referendum.

As a side note it's interesting that the CDC requires an absolute majority for election of the PM but for the constitutional referendum only requires a simple majority. Clealry, the greatest threat to Thai politics is not a constitution but an elected PM.

[oneday]

If nothing else, insisting that the PM will not be directly elected by the people will make the "constitutional draft" dead in the referendum if it makes it that far. This, of course, will push the time-table for the junta's road-map back even further until we have reached 2020 and beyond with the junta still in control.

[Thai at Heart]

Surely the parties should just nominate their leaders? Isn't that enough?

[tbthailand]

If nothing else, insisting that the PM will not be directly elected by the people will make the "constitutional draft" dead in the referendum if it makes it that far. This, of course, will push the time-table for the junta's road-map back even further until we have reached 2020 and beyond with the junta still in control.

hey, the clowns running the show now are sooooo incompetent, that the longer they try to stay in power, the better the odds for Thailand to return to a really inclusive democratic system and not to some pseudo-(anti-)democracy where the junta hands the mantle of a fake democracy to an "quasi-elected/quasi-selected" government while keeping the reins of power in their own hands...

At this point, I want the self-appointed "PM" to keep clinging to power & desperately thrashing out at even the slightest hint of opposition & criticism so that the entire country sees the truth and understands that the man and the people supporting him are off-the-chart-bonkers. It's sad but probably true that things need to get much much much worse in order that they can someday become better...

[tbthailand]

If nothing else, insisting that the PM will not be directly elected by the people will make the "constitutional draft" dead in the referendum if it makes it that far. This, of course, will push the time-table for the junta's road-map back even further until we have reached 2020 and beyond with the junta still in control.

hey, the clowns running the show now are sooooo incompetent, that the longer they try to stay in power, the better the odds for Thailand to return to a really inclusive democratic system and not to some pseudo-(anti-)democracy where the junta hands the mantle of a fake democracy to an "quasi-elected/quasi-selected" government while keeping the reins of power in their own hands...

At this point, I want the self-appointed "PM" to keep clinging to power & desperately thrashing out at even the slightest hint of opposition & criticism so that the entire country sees the truth and understands that the man and the people supporting him are off-the-chart-bonkers. It's sad but probably true that things need to get much much much worse in order that they can someday become better...

so, it's waaaaaay too early in the morning, but hey, ...

At this point, I want the self-appointed "PM" to keep clinging to power & desperately thrashing out at even the slightest hint of opposition & criticism so that the entire country sees the truth and understands that the man and the people supporting him are off-the-chart-bonkers

Case and point, NHRC report, ...

So keep up the good work Uncle Goh Hok, we love ya for it...

But seriously, for a retired-general-cum-self-appointed-"PM"-with-the-Best-Invicible-SuperHero-Power-Art-44, you sure are thinned skinned, ...

or just a super pussy with a gun...

[Artisi]

If nothing else, insisting that the PM will not be directly elected by the people will make the "constitutional draft" dead in the referendum if it makes it that far. This, of course, will push the time-table for the junta's road-map back even further until we have reached 2020 and beyond with the junta still in control.

hey, the clowns running the show now are sooooo incompetent, that the longer they try to stay in power, the better the odds for Thailand to return to a really inclusive democratic system and not to some pseudo-(anti-)democracy where the junta hands the mantle of a fake democracy to an "quasi-elected/quasi-selected" government while keeping the reins of power in their own hands...

At this point, I want the self-appointed "PM" to keep clinging to power & desperately thrashing out at even the slightest hint of opposition & criticism so that the entire country sees the truth and understands that the man and the people supporting him are off-the-chart-bonkers. It's sad but probably true that things need to get much much much worse in order that they can someday become better...

so, it's waaaaaay too early in the morning, but hey, ...

At this point, I want the self-appointed "PM" to keep clinging to power & desperately thrashing out at even the slightest hint of opposition & criticism so that the entire country sees the truth and understands that the man and the people supporting him are off-the-chart-bonkers

Case and point, NHRC report, ...

So keep up the good work Uncle Goh Hok, we love ya for it...

But seriously, for a retired-general-cum-self-appointed-"PM"-with-the-Best-Invicible-SuperHero-Power-Art-44, you sure are thinned skinned, ...

or just a super pussy with a gun...

Careful how you use the feline pseudonym, you might end up being sent for attitude adjustment... Edited December 18, 2015 by Artisi