Yingluck 'can run in election after ban ends'
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FORMER prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra would be able to contest in an election once she completes the five-year ban imposed on her following her impeachment, chief charter drafter Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday.
The Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) revealed on Monday that a provision in the new constitution will impose a ban for life on those who are found guilty of electoral fraud.
Yingluck was impeached and banned because of negligence in preventing corruption in her government’s rice-pledging scheme. According to the National Legislative Assembly’s resolution in January, she is now serving a five-year political ban. Meechai said that if an election is held during the period of her ban, Yingluck will not be eligible to contest in it. Once the ban ends, she can run in the poll.
However, former MPs from the so-called House No 111 and 109, or those MPs from the dissolved Thai Rak Thai, People Power, Chart Thai, and Matchima Thipatai parties, will not be covered by the bans, Meechai said. They have finished serving their five-year ban from politics and they are now absolved according to the charter, the chief drafter said.
Meanwhile, some key politicians have come out to comment on the bans proposed by the charter drafters. Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva strongly backed the move, while Pheu Thai’s legal expert, Phongthep Thepkanjana, had doubts.
Abhisit said the 17 prohibitions for MP candidates were expected in political reform. The qualifications and prohibitions are at the heart of recruitment of high-quality politicians, he said. “To enforce measures to keep out bad people from politics is an idea that should be supported,” Abhisit said.
He added that we should not focus on “who” in particular would be affected by the new prohibitions. Rather, we should look at its principles, whether or not they are appropriate, the Democrat leader said.
In contrast, Phongthep cast doubts over the prohibitions for MP candidates. He said most of them were the same as in the previous constitutions. There were some points that differ, mostly because the terms and words used in this draft were new and different, he added.
However, he said the move to let the court rule on whether any politician must leave office was rather ambiguous. He urged the CDC to clarify its intentions on the prohibitions because it was a very important issue in politics.
