Strong opposition in NRC to direct election of PM

The proposal for direct election of the prime minister and cabinet members yesterday encountered strong opposition during the National Reform Council debate, with most members arguing that the idea was not better than the current one of parliament making the choice.
The criticism came after NRC political reform panel chairman Sombat Thamrongthanyawong declared the panel’s consensus on the proposals covering the topic of political system and independent organisations, political parties and electoral system.
However, it was obvious the key debate revolved around the issue of the top powers of the executive branch.
“I have not agreed with this idea [direct election of PM and cabinet] from the beginning; it makes my hair stand on end,” said NRC member Chai Chidchob.
Electoral fraud cannot be solved, but if we have direct election for PM, there will be more incentive to invest heavily in vote buying, said the veteran Buri Ram politician.
“People will love it; instead of getting Bt100-500 in the past, the new proposal could fetch Bt1,000 to Bt5,000. This will worsen corruption and electoral fraud”, he argued.
The premier and cabinet members will be indebted to, and therefore will be under the control of party financial backers who may also be billionaires, he said.
Another NRC member, Direk Thungfang, said: “I can’t see how it is in any way better than the current system [of picking from the lower house] and it will never solve electoral fraud, never!”
“If no one can prove that it will be better than the current system, then we should stick with the same one,” he said.
Many of the proponents of the direct PM election proposal pointed out that two of the most important political issues that urgently needed to be resolved are the failing checks and balances system and electoral fraud.

’Culture of patronage’
NRC member Prasarn Marukapitak said “the direct election of PM doesn’t remove the culture of patronage; such a culture had been instilled in society for a long time.”
Hence electoral fraud will turn into “direct sales” targeted only at the people, vote-buying money will be enormous, with amounts of up to or more than Bt10 billion, he claimed.
How to elect the prime minister and cabinet members is among issues and proposals debated in the NRC to write them into the new constitution.
There are no guarantees that all the key proposals made by the NRC to the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) will eventually be reflected in the new charter, said a vice chairman of a subcommittee of the CDC.
Surapong Kongchantuk, vice chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee’s subcommittee on rights, citizen liberty, political participation and scrutiny, said if the military junta found some proposals unacceptable they may simply veto it.
“There are no guarantees. What I am concerned about most is that the junta would simply bang the table. That’s the end,” he told The Nation, on the last of the three-day submission of reform proposals and debate by the NRC.
On contentious and divisive issues like whether the prime minister should be directly elected or not, Surapong said the public should be allowed to deliberate about it at public hearings.
Another caveat offered by Surapong was that the CDC would actually let the Office of the Council of State draft the next charter in detail, based on principles laid down by the CDC. This, he said, would differ from the previous junta-sponsored charter drafting process after the coup in 2006 where charter drafters wrote it themselves.
CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno will call a meeting today to consider proposals from all 18 committees of the National Reform Council and some of the National Legislative Assembly to see how the proposals could be incorporated in the text of the constitution, according to CDC spokesman Lertrat Ratanavanich.
The drafters have begun writing the first chapter of the charter on the monarchy and the CDC will proceed chapter by chapter, he said.