Charter panel to hear both sides

The contentious issues include the composition of the Constitution Drafting Assembly and qualifications of the charter writers. Committee members from the Pheu Thai Party have been backing government-sponsored provisions that the CDA should comprise 99 seats, of which 77 are allocated to elected members and 22 to academics voted in by MPs and senators. But the Democrats want CDA members to be elected on the basis of each province’s population size and elected charter writers via a proportionate vote cast nationwide. As per the Democrats, the CDA needs to have more than 150 seats. 

As for job qualifications, Pheu Thai MP Weng Tojirakarn said the minimum age for aspiring charter writers should be lowered from 35 to 25 years. He also suggested that charter writers maintain a year’s residency in a given constituency in lieu of the five-year requirement as per the draft. The Democrats are against Weng’s proposal, arguing that charter writers should be older, more experienced and financially stable.