Joint session to debate Pheu Thai draft

Somsak, who is also the Parliament president, said that according to the Constitution, he is required to schedule such a motion for a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate within 15 days of submission. 

However, the drafts proposed by civic groups – including the red shirts – would not be scheduled for deliberation soon, Somsak said, adding that the proponents would instead be invited to take part in the public hearings on the constitutional amendment.

When asked if the drafts by civic groups would have no chance of being deliberated by Parliament, he said: “We will have to see if there is anything that can be done.”

With at least 50,000 supporter signatures, each amendment bill by the civic groups will require a long period of time for verification of the supporters’ identities.

The Pheu Thai draft, as well as other similar drafts submitted recently, seeks an amendment to Article 291 of the current post-coup Constitution to allow formation of a drafting assembly to amend the charter. 

The Cabinet resolved Monday to submit its own draft for charter changes. According to sources in the coalition, the government draft is almost identical to that of Pheu Thai’s.

Somsak said yesterday he did not think charter changes would lead to a new round of political conflict, as elected representatives from the people would form the majority in a constitution drafting assembly. “I don’t think there will be such a problem,” he said.

He also said he did not think the constitutional amendment would help former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the legal cases against him. He was responding to an earlier remark by Pheu Thai MP and red- shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn that the charter changes would result in “bringing Thaksin home”.

Thaksin has been in self-exile overseas, escaping a two-year imprisonment sentence at home in a case involving conflict of interest.

The House speaker said he believed the constitution to be drafted by the new CDA would be “democratic and better” than the current one. He dismissed speculation that the ruling party already has a “blueprint” for a new charter.

Meanwhile, opposition chief whip Jurin Laksanavisit yesterday noted that the House speaker acted “too hastily” in scheduling the Pheu Thai draft for deliberation, while ignoring the drafts proposed by civic groups. “This hasty act may be intended to benefit someone. I wonder why a government that often claims it respects democracy and the civic sector does not wait for the amendment drafts from the red shirts. Why are they in such a hurry?” Jurin said, adding that there were other problems that required urgent government action.

Jurin, a senior MP from the Democrat Party, said it could be because the ruling politicians were afraid of possible abrupt political change.

In a related development, Pairoj Polphet, a member of the Law Reform Commission, yesterday expressed concern that the three amendment drafts proposed separately by civic groups would fail to be deliberated by Parliament after the House speaker scheduled deliberations to begin next week.

“If the three drafts are rejected, it means the views of more than 100,000 people are ignored. This does not go in line with the spirit of the constitution,” he said. He also called for either expediting the verification of the civic groups’ supporters or delaying the parliamentary deliberations.