harris campaign, clean up on aisle Electoral College

[rooster59]

CDC chairman confident amendment to draft charter be finished within August

 

Supawadee Wangsri

 

BANGKOK, 19 August 2016 (NNT) – The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) was confident that amendment to the draft constitution will be completed within August. 

CDC Chairman Meechai Ruchuphan said that the amendment will be in accordance with the referendum question and adhere to its literal interpretation. 

The new charter stipulates that the Senate will have a five-year term, thus it is clear that the Upper House will be involved in the selection of more than one prime minister over time. 

The CDC chairman said he was confident that the amendment process will be completed within August before the amended charter is submitted to the Constitutional Court for approval.

 

 

-- nnt 2016-08-20

[Thailand]

Will the amended charter be put to a referendum or will the alterations be exactly what every one that voted knew they were voting for?

[NongKhaiKid]

30 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Will the amended charter be put to a referendum or will the alterations be exactly what every one that voted knew they were voting for?

Can you the voice from  Monty Python   saying   '   and now for something completely different   '   ?

 

[JAG]

Cool!

Got the charter through a referendum a few weeks  ago.

 

Now we amend it -significantly changing the terms proposed for selecting a Prime Minister. 

 

This amendment will effectively mean that the Senate - a body appointed by the Junta, will select the next two prime ministers after the Junta has stepped aside - irrespective of any election results

 

[brucec64]

Considering that this amendment was written in May 2014, it should be no problem getting it into the constitution in August. 

[waldroj]

7 hours ago, Thailand said:

Will the amended charter be put to a referendum or will the alterations be exactly what every one that voted knew they were voting for?

 

No need for another referendum - wouldn't change anything now anyway as the draft Constitution has been accepted!

 

Those who voted on referendum day were also asked the following supplementary question about the selection of Prime Minister:

 

“Do you approve that for contributing continuity of the country reform according to the national strategic plan, it should be stipulated in the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand that for the duration of 5 years from the first sitting of the National Assembly under this constitution; the joint sitting of the two chambers of the National Assembly shall convene to consider approving a person to be appointed as the Prime Ministry?”

 

According to the Election Commission's official referendum results (http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/ec-announces-official-referendum-result/), of the 29,740,677 (out of a total of 50,071,589 eligible voters) that actually voted on August 7,

• 15,132,050 were in favour of senators having the right to vote in the selection of prime minister,
• 10,926,648 disagreed.

As for the other 3,681,979 well your guess is as good as mine! As for whether the people knew what they were voting for, once again, that's anyone's guess.

 

Now, it is up to the CDC to amend the Transitory Provisions section of draft to reflect the referendum result, AND they must complete the first four organic laws in Section 267 for submission to the National Legislative Assembly for consideration and approval.

 

Then, and ONLY then can the countdown to elections begin, as Section 268 states:

Election of members of the House of Representatives under this Constitution shall be held within one hundred and fifty days as from the date the organic laws under Section 267 (1), (2), (3) and (4) have come into force.

 

However, before we get to the elections we still have to consider the other key issues. As defined in Section 263:

While the House of Representatives and the Senate under this Constitution are not yet formed, the National Legislative Assembly as established under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim) B.E. 2557 shall continue to act as the National Assembly, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The members of the National Legislative Assembly holding office before the promulgation of this Constitution shall act as members of the House of Representatives or senators respectively in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, and the National Legislative Assembly and its members shall terminate on the day before the convocation of the first sitting of the National Assembly following the general election conducted under this Constitution.

 

So, we will have the same people "controlling" everything right up to "the convocation of the first sitting of the National Assembly following the general election conducted under this Constitution", assuming we get there!

 

Because the supplementary question was accepted on August 7, after the initial election, Section 159 of the Constitution will not apply. Instead, the Prime Minister will be selected by the joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate as per the yet-to-be-drafted CDC amendment.

 

So, what impact will that have on the selection of the Prime Minister? Well, according to Section 83,

The House of Representatives consists of five hundred members including;

(1) three hundred and fifty members from the election on a constituency basis,

(2) one hundred and fifty members from the election on a party list basis.

 

While, according to Section 269,

At the initial period, the Senate shall consist of two hundred and fifty members appointed by the King upon the advice of the National Council for Peace and Order for a five-year term.

 

The composition of these will be,

• 50 selected by the NCPO from a list of 200 names supplied to it by the Election Commission.
• 194 selected by the NCPO  from a list of 400 names supplied by a Selection Committee of Senators appointed by the NCPO.
• and finally there will be:
  • the Permanent Secretary of the Defense;
  • the Supreme Commander in Chief;
  • the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army;
  • the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Navy;
  • the Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force; and,
  • the Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police.

Hardly what you would call a democratic parliament! Clearly, the initial election is only going to be a side show, given that the NCPO have already stacked the Senate and nullified the power of the previous major political parties. With this formula, it is virtually guaranteed that we will see some feeble coalition in the House of Representatives, a hostile PM, and a military-dominated Senate in total control of legislation.

 

Again, I lament - Amazing Thailand!