House-Senate meeting hears proposals on CDA composition

Yesterday was the third day of the second reading of the amendment to Article 291, which would allow the setting up of a CDA.
Democrat MPs and senators proposed that CDA members be elected according to the size of each province’s population.
Democrat MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thepthai Senpong, proposed that one CDA member be elected to represent every 500,000 people, while Narisara Atithepvorapan from the same province proposed that each CDA member represent 300,000 citizens.
Thepthai’s formula would result in a total of 130 elected CDA members. However, instead of letting Parliament choose 22 experts, he proposed that academic institutions nominate qualified candidates and let the people vote to select experts.
MPs Nipon Boonyamanee and Sutas Ngernmune as well as Senator Jate Siratharanon proposed that the CDA be made up of 200 members.
Nipon said that electing CDA members according to population size would help prevent block voting and interference by political parties.
As per the Cabinet, the CDA should comprise 99 members, of whom 77 are elected to represent each province and 22 are selected by Parliament. Of the 22, six will be experts in public law, six will be knowledgeable in political science or public administration, while the remainder will be experienced in politics, public administration or charter drafting.
According to the Cabinet’s draft, the law on local administration election would be used as a reference in the election process.
However, Democrats say that if only one CDA member is elected to represent a province, then the CDA could be dominated by the ruling Pheu Thai Party. In fact, some proposed that there be two CDA members representing each province, even though a voter can only cast one vote. Democrat MP Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, a former justice minister, proposed that there be one or two elected CDA members depending on the size of each province.
He also proposed that there be a higher number of CDA members nominated by state and private universities. He said these nominees can be lecturers from the law, political science, economics and social science faculties, people experienced in public administration and charter drafting, as well as representatives from non-profit organisations.
Pheu Thai MP Weng Tojirakarn, however, swam against the tide by proposing that the CDA be comprised of 100 members, all of whom are elected.
Democrat Satit Pitutecha, meanwhile, accused the government of wanting to dominate the CDA.
“I just learnt why [government MPs] are trying so hard to keep the 77 plus 22 formula. A university lecturer told me that he was confident he would become one of the charter drafters. I don’t know how, but he was certain,” Satit said.
Democrat MP Warong Dechkitvigrom also voiced opposition to CDA members being selected, saying that these people could be assigned by the government to rewrite the charter and would interfere in the justice system and agencies. He and other Democrats repeatedly attacked the ad-hoc panel on charter amendment for reversing the vote result on Article 291/1 regarding CDA members earlier.
Wirat Romyen, a panel member from the Democrat Party, said that at a meeting on March 28, the panel voted 12:10 in support of the changes. However, on the following day, panel chairman Samart Kaewmeechai, who is a member of the Pheu Thai Party, recruited other MPs from his party and asked for a re-vote, which reversed the voting result of the previous day.