Political parties law seeks to negate financiers

AT THE HEART of representative democracy is the ideal that politicians and parties truly reflect and represent voices of the people. But contrary to that notion, Thai politics has often seen political parties and politicians dominated by special influences – a situation that undermines not only their ability to represent constituents, but also the very spirit of democracy itself.
As organic laws are being written following the new charter, the bill concerning political parties will tackle the issue with a renewed attempt to free parties from such domination through a rearrangement of the links between people, political parties and politicians through the decentralisation of power and stronger democratic institutions, while also demanding more transparency, drafters said.
“The new political parties law we are writing is aimed at freeing parties from influence and making them belong to the people,” said Udom Rathamarit, a spokesman of the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) told The Nation in an exclusive interview. “It would see changes in how a party is established, as well as how it is run.”
The new law drafted by the CDC requires a more participatory process in forming parties and determining membership, with an increased role for party branches and members, including in MP candidate selection. It also requires more transparent donations and accounts, plus more commitment by parties in regard to their formulation of public policy.

In regard to the establishment of new political parties, the CDC wants the process to be easy, so that ordinary people can engage in politics and encourage a sense of ownership. However, engagement must be based on readiness, Udom said, adding that the law would require founding members to contribute financially so the party would have sufficient capital to operate independently.
“To found a new party, we [the CDC] agree that it should require just 500 people joining together and jointly contributing Bt1 million for the party to start. We believe that this would make them feel the party is theirs,” Udom said.
The number of 500 was reduced from 5,000, as proposed by the Election Commission (EC) under the slogan that “a political party should be difficult to form, maintain and disband”. However, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan has said drafters did not share that view and would instead consider the charter that passed the referendum and the potential consequences of the new mechanisms in the proposed law for ordinary people.
However, the 500 founding members must come proportionally from all parts of the country and not be concentrated in particular areas, Udom said.
The proportion of members in each of the country’s four regions would also affect the operation of political parties as specified by the organic law, he added.
While traditional party operations relied strongly on patronage systems, the CDC was trying to distribute power more to regional and provincial levels, promoting their participation in the decision-making process, which has been concentrated in Bangkok or dominated by party board members, Udom explained.
The CDC sought to encourage parties to have branches in each region and members in every province rather than concentrating only in big cities including Bangkok, Udom said, emphasising the importance of branches outside the capital. The CDC has specific rules requiring that branch members must participate in parties’ assemblies when making decisions on essential issues, including the selection of candidates for the House of Representatives.
“We don’t want the selection of candidates to be influenced by individuals or group of individuals in the party who could be financiers. We want members to come together and decide who should run in an election,” Udom said. “However, that would be too difficult as it would involve a lot of people so a selection panel would be a good solution for better participation.”
Apart from the decentralisation, transparency would be emphasised, Udom said, adding that donations from the general public and financiers would still be permissible but parties must be transparent about funding.
“Donations are in fact encouraged in the new law,” he said. “We have to accept the truth that money is still very important for political parties to run smoothly.”
Parties would be obliged to submit extensive financial reports to the EC, he said.
Udom said the CDC believed the rule would boost transparency and enable the public to scrutinise parties and determine possible sources of influence.
The CDC has completed half of the draft bill, he said, adding they had not written the rules on the dissolution of political parties yet. However, the CDC had always been clear that existing parties would not be dissolved in a “reset”, he said. 
He added that the CDC’s organic law on political parties was in line with principles proposed by the committee on political reform of the Nation Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA).
Sompong Srakawee, head of the NRSA working group overseeing the political parties law, has said that his group proposed that political parties should be institutionalised and freed from the influence of financiers.
The veteran political activist said party members must pay annual membership fees to increase the sense of belonging within the party, adding that requiring members to pay annual fees would be an indirect way to screen members as only those who were willing to contribute financially would stay involved.
The NRSA has also proposed a fundamental shift in the political process by using a primary system to allow members and branches to have a part in selecting electoral candidates as well as key political positions, such as the premiership and the ministerial posts. Sompong said such a system would mean that party members would make such crucial decisions, not just the party leader.
Satitorn Tananitichote, a political scientist specialising in political parties and elections at King Prajadhipok’s Institute, said the organic law could be headed in the right direction.
He said the key to freeing political parties from influence and strengthening ties between the members and their parties lay in the decentralisation of power and promotion of democracy within the party.
“In order to make that happen, branches outside Bangkok must be strengthened. Instead of having a selection panel, maybe the law could require that candidates must be proposed only by the branches and are decided at the party’s meeting,” he said.
Satitorn added that he believed the law should provide options for bigger parties, including well-established parties that would like to adopt the primary system as well.
He said branches should also have roles in shaping the party’s policies to promote participation. 
As for transparency, he agreed that political parties needed sufficient funding to compete in elections. However, he said there should be monitoring to determine sources of funding as well as how the party spends money during the election, as the EC currently does.
Lastly, he said the EC should play a supportive role in addition to its current duties of monitoring parties, including providing funding to smaller parties to enable them to compete and encouraging new participants in politics.
 

‘Extreme’ proposal for dealing with corrupt party leaders

Besides efforts to tackle political party dominance, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has sought to achieve political equality by introducing new grounds for party dissolution if fault is found. These have touched upon harsh and controversial penalties including capital punishment against party leaders found selling positions for monetary gain.
CDC chief Meechai Ruchupan spelled out the tough new rules earlier this month. Besides evidence of attempts to overthrow the constitutional monarchy being used to dissolve a party, three new grounds for fault involve guilt concerning irregular donations. 
Any party found to have received donations from foreign nationals or aiming to overthrow the constitutional monarchy would be dissolved. Also, executives found to have received money in exchange for their offices would also see their parties dissolved.
The CDC has gone further by extending criminality against party leaders by proposing executions if officials found guilty of selling their positions.
The proposal has drawn flak from various sides for its extreme nature.
Vice president of the National Legislative Assembly, Peerasak Porchit, said on Thursday that capital punishment for selling political offices was too harsh. 
“Penalties must match the offences and you have to think of the world community as well. Many countries no longer have capital punishment,” he said.
However, Meechai defended the proposal, although he said the CDC might also add life imprisonment as an alternative.
“If people think capital punishment is too severe, they can suggest a fine of Bt5 or Bt10 - that’s all, never mind. They may think it is a small offence to sell ministerial seats, but for the CDC it is severe,” Meechai said.