Concerns over bill on political parties could go to special panel

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Concerns over bill on political parties could go to special panel
By The Nation

 

BANGKOK: -- National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai on Thursday suggested that a joint committee be established to overcome concerns about a draft bill on political parties.

 

The draft, approved by the NLA earlier this month, proposes a so-called “primary voting” system that has drawn concern from both politicians and the authors of the new Constitution.

 

The new system would require parties to have members in every constituency they contest in an election. 

 

The worry is that the requirement might be impractical and could hamper parties with smaller memberships, which would have difficulty establishing local branches everywhere they contest an election.

 

Pornpetch said the draft could be further amended by a panel including members of the Constitution Drafting Commission, Election Commission and Constitutional Court, all of which are now mulling the draft.

 

“It would be better than scrapping the entire draft,” he said. “Regardless of the concerns, there should be no obstruction that would delay the election. We need to accelerate deliberation on the draft.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30319439

 

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