CDC: Provinces to 'elect' senators

A CDC source explained that the Senate would have 200 senators, who would come from three different channels to ensure a more inclusive composition of the upper house.

The first source of senators would be elections in all 77 provinces, with each province choosing one senator; the second group of 65 members would be representatives from professional associations and government officials – 20 senators would be high-ranking government officials, 15 from different professions and another 30 would be experts.

The last source of 58 senators will be a selection process, though it is not known who will select them or how.

Another matter scrutinised by the CDC yesterday covered the post of prime minister. The majority of drafters decided to stay loyal to the earlier proposal under which the PM does not have to be an elected member of the Lower House. The CDC added that a non-elected PM would need the support of two-thirds of the House while an MP prime minister needed only a simple majority.

The meeting also discussed the issue of public hearings on the upcoming constitution, after an earlier report suggested that Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam would coordinate with CDC president Borworn-sak Uwanno to refrain from informing the public about each article in the draft. Wissanu’s office reasoned that if the public were informed about each article, there could be misunderstanding about the entire charter.

But the chairwoman of the CDC panel on “public participation and gathering public opinion”, Thawil-wadee Bureekul, rejected that idea.

She said the issue was misinterpreted. The draft of every article had never been given to the public and the forums she held were not as public hearings but to gather opinion.

The CDC this week also hold close-door meeting to scrutinise the pending articles that has not been resolved, reasoning that by this means it would give the drafters more freedom in expressing their thoughts and debate freely.