Life ban from politics for people who are jailed: CDC
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THE CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission is considering introducing a lifetime political ban for people who have been jailed and involved in electoral fraud, regardless of whether they receive an amnesty.
The move aimed to raise the standard of election candidates, CDC spokesman Norachit Sinhaseni said yesterday.
The drafters have been deliberating the Parliament section for the new charter. They are now discussing the qualifications needed to run for a seat in the House of Representatives and who should be banned from doing so.
Norachit said candidates who had their political or electoral rights revoked would be banned from contesting an election. But before being banned, he said their cases should be examined thoroughly and their guilt unquestionable.
Only those with minor offences such as defamation would be allowed to run in an election, he said.
But politicians previously banned and whose bans have finished, they would be allowed to run for an MP seat. That would include former MPs from “Houses No 109 and No 111” who were banned for five years.
Norachit said people who have been jailed should be blocked from politics permanently, even if they received an amnesty.
He said the drafters had also been assessing the election process. They had agreed initially that if “no” votes were the majority in a constituency, a new election must be held to get a winner.
But holding a meeting of Parliament was still possible after 90-95 per cent of MPs had won seats, he said.
For constituencies where there was no clear result, a by-election must be held within 30 days, he said.
He quoted the Election Commission when he said the count could be finished within 15 days, meaning it would be no more than 45 days before all MP seats were filled.
Other details about how to set up rules for creating party-lists, how to set up constituencies, how to calculate elections and how to count votes would be stipulated in relevant organic laws, Norachit said.
Before the drafters meeting yesterday, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan told the press that senators would now be selected to represent groups categorised as different social forces. Among them could be professional groups and ideological groups.
Their duties and authorities would involve deliberating and endorsing laws and monitoring independent organisations, while the impeachment authority was abolished.
He said that impeachment could not work in the Thai political context. Thais were usually kind and considerate so it was difficult to get someone impeached.
CDC was also looking to improve senators’ efficiency by merging the first and second readings, Meechai said. That would improve the flow of work, he said.
In a related development, a panel of charter drafters is set to travel upcountry to gathering comments from people about the constitution. Today and tomorrow they will be in Songkhla.
And on Monday and Tuesday they will be in Loei with representatives from the National Legislative Assembly to attend a seminar entitled “The Participatory Process of Promoting Democratic Leaders”.
Norachit – a former permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is set to send messages to the international community about the charter draft – revealed that another meeting arranged for foreign diplomats and international organisations might be held in late January after the initial charter draft has been made public.
International friends of Thailand could voice their opinions on the draft and the CDC brief them on its work, he said.
