Senate barred from proposing PM candidates, empowered to vote on party lists
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Charter drafters Wednesday decided to exclude the Senate from a role in nominating candidates for prime minister but the Upper House will be eligible to vote with MPs to select the premier.
Candidates would be nominated by MPs and picked from the lists proposed by political parties, said Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) spokesman Udom Rathamarit. In the case of deadlock, in which the lists would be waived based on a two-thirds vote of the joint Parliament, MPs would still reserve the right to nominate other prime ministerial candidates, from the party lists or otherwise.
The Senate will not have a role in nominating candidates in either case.
The Senate’s role in selecting the premier became controversial after voters approved the additional question proposed by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) in the referendum earlier this month. Some NLA members then advocated that the Upper House be allowed to nominate candidates for the post in addition to voting for candidates proposed by the party lists.
