Abhisit urges special panel to investigate political cases

SOME independent agencies should select a special panel to carry out work related to political cases to prevent political interference and intimidation, former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

Abhisit, the Democrat Party leader, said it was one of his personal proposals on content and principles for the new charter he had his deputy, Jurin Laksanawisit, submit to Constitution Drafting Commission chairman Meechai Ruchupan. He said his proposals cover human rights to political principles to election system.

He said although he believed the CDC’s attempts to search for the best election system – by making every vote cast by electorate count – was a good principle, he believed it may have flaws that would need to be ironed out.

Regarding independent agencies, he said he had suggested that they must be allowed to freely carry out their duties without political interference. He proposed that these agencies appoint special task panels to prevent political interference or intimidation.

“In some political cases, independent agencies should select a special panel to work on the cases, like how the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders selects judges to hear each political case,’’ he said. He said not all independent agencies use this special selection method but only those which are vulnerable to political interference.

On human rights, he said he had proposed that the rights enjoyed by citizens should not be less than that guaranteed in the 2007 charter or in the recently rejected charter draft. He suggested that the charter include provisions to strengthen the civic sector and create a parliamentary system that reflects the people’s demand. He said he has proposed several mechanisms to ensure checks on an elected government.

Abhisit said he has also proposed ways for the Election Commission to work more efficiently to endorse MPs. He said if the EC faces delay in investigation, MP candidates who win an election would be in the government and this makes it harder for the EC to find evidence to substantiate election wrongdoings of such candidates.

Pheu Thai deputy secretary-general Chavalit Wichayasut criticised the CDC proposal to count the votes of losing constituency candidates as party-list votes. He said this concept did not reflect the people’s demand and intention. He said the CDC should instead ensure clean and fair election because this will help voters get representatives they want. He said all political parties want clean and fair election. “No one wants to incur cost for elections,’’ he said.

National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) member Seree Suwanpanont said the assembly’s meeting directives are different from those used by the National Reform Council because the former focused on achieving reform results so the NRSA must have a clear reform plan and timeframe. There will also be a whip committee to coordinate the work of all five core agencies. NRSA chairman Tinnapan Nakata will decide how many members should be appointed to the whip committee.

The NRSA will appoint 11 committees to work on 11 reform aspects as stipulated in Article 27 of the interim charter 2014 plus a 21 member panel in charge of anti-graft, 11 of who are representatives of the 11 committees.

He said the NRSA would not appoint a reconciliation committee since this would be under the responsibility of the political committee.