Still no CDC agreement on whether PM should be elected MP

Several Constitution Drafting Committee members discussed the topic and it was expected that the CDC would come up with an answer at today’s meeting.
CDC member Paiboon Nititawan’s view was that no electoral system should prevent people with the qualifications to serve as prime minister from doing so because they had not been elected as MPs.
“My personal view is that the position should not be limited [to only MPs] because the prime minister should represent the people, and there are many who have such qualifications,” he said.
Paiboon, who is also a member of the National Reform Council (NRC), said he believed that the people were capable of choosing who was eligible to head their government.
However, he had no problem with MPs proposing and electing a prime minister if the CDC agreed.
“This new constitution should not limit a PM’s qualifications, as seen in previous cases,” he said.
The CDC on Tuesday agreed that the House of Representatives would be authorised to choose the country’s prime minister, but did not seem clear on whether the PM would be an elected member of the lower house.
The charter drafters reasoned that direct election would cause more problems to the country, adding further risks to the Thai political system.
The proposal of direct election of the prime minister and Cabinet members was brought up by the chairman of the NRC’s political-reform panel, Sombat Thamrongthanyawong. He said such a system could result in “better democracy”.
Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president, also proposed the PM’s direct election to the CDC. He said that airing contrasting ideas among relevant agencies showed that no one could dictate the direction of drafting a constitution.
He claimed that even if the country sticks to its old election system, it would have to adjust and strengthen the legislative system to eradicate issues that obstruct democracy and ensure that members of Parliament actually represent their people.
Pornpetch also believed that the fact that Sombat had made the direct-election proposal would not cause issues between the two agencies, adding that it was good to have contrasting opinions.
“We have to accept the CDC’s scrutiny, including public opinion on the charter,” Pornpetch said.
Therefore the overriding question is how the PM and MPs represented the people, including the electoral system, which they must serve lawfully, he said.
He also said that even though the direct-election proposal had been scrapped, the CDC still needed to listen to other ideas, because once the charter was drafted it would need final approval by the NRC.