New bodies not needed to steer country through crises: CDC
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CHARTER drafters believe that the Constitutional Court and other existing agencies are sufficient as "mechanisms to steer the country through crises", their spokesman said yesterday.
In response to a suggestion by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) that the new constitution include “mechanisms to break deadlocks during critical times”, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) decided that there was no need for new agencies to be set up, spokesman Chartchai na Chiangmai said.
“We haven’t really gone into details [about such mechanisms], but there are no special organisations emerging [on the CDC’s table] so far. The drafters see that we already have plenty of mechanisms that should be able to do the job [of pulling the country through crises],” Chartchai said.
The CDC was discussing the Constitutional Court’s authority and duties.
The Constitutional Court would be authorised as the final adjudicator on any constitutional conflict, including disqualifying political office holders, the CDC spokesman confirmed.
Impeachment cases against political office holders can be taken to court by either members of the public or relevant agencies such as the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Chartchai said.
The charter writers want to ensure that the court can perform its tasks effectively and efficiently, as it played an essential role in protecting the constitution and the rule of law, the spokesman explained. He added that the panel was trying to be prudent in deliberating on the matter.
The CDC also revealed a tentative timeline for the charter-writing process yesterday. By January 8, the first draft of all sections in the charter should be completed, with comments from all the parties involved.
On January 11-17, the CDC is scheduled to finalise the entire draft during a retreat upcountry.
Chartchai said the purpose of the retreat was not to avoid lobbyists, but to enable drafters to focus on their work.
The first draft, according to the timeline, should be made public on January 29, and the “Five Rivers” of power will have until February 15 to submit their responses.
The final draft – after being revised in line with public comments – is set to be completed by March 29.
Chartchai said a national referendum could be held in July next year, but before that the drafters would tell the public how the new charter could help the country move forward.
In a related development, the National Reform Steering Council’s subcommittee on political reform has proposed to the CDC that the new charter include a clause to severely punish those who commit electoral fraud.
Those found guilty should not get a suspended sentence, the subcommittee’s spokesman Wanchai Sornsiri said. He added that those found guilty in political cases should be banned for life from politics.
On the subject of party-list MPs, Wanchai said there should be only 400 constituency MPs in total.
The panel’s chairman Seri Suwanpanon had earlier explained that party lists were often full of “fat cats” who invested in MP seats looking to gain profit.
Chartchai said the drafters had yet to discuss these proposals and would consider them after completing the court section of the draft charter.
