Voter power will trump junta senators in choosing next prime minister: Abhisit

Abhisit, a former prime minister, said the possibility that a non-MP could take the government’s top job was provided for in the new constitution, but it could take place only after people had made their decision in the national polls.
“More importantly, even though the 250 [junta-selected senators] could designate a prime minister, they cannot vote in censure debates,” the Democrat leader said in a year-end press briefing.
The Democrat leader’s remarks came as the organic law on political parties is starting to take shape. In line with the recently approved constitution, the law sets tough rules and regulations governing political parties. 
Abhisit expressed confidence that the party organic law would be completed within an appropriate timeframe so that political parties could adapt to the changes. 
But he said he was concerned about specific rules outlined in the law, such as the requirement that party membership fees be paid in a specified period of time, describing the rule as unrealistic.
“The Democrat Party has over 2 million members. It is almost impossible to convey why [members] have to pay for their membership when they do not get any more privileges,” the Democrat leader said. 
“We have already offered more than the law stipulates. Our members are entitled to choose [the party’s] executive board members and presidents of the branches as well as to attend the party assembly,” he said.
Abhisit said he did not want the new rules to affect the relationship between the party and its members. 
He proposed that the law should be flexible regarding the treatment of members who did not pay the fees in the first payment period so the party would have time to convince members to accept the new rules.
However, he said he believed that eventually every party would be able to abide by the rules. 
The Constitution Drafting Commission has argued that the rules were intended to boost people’s sense of ownership regarding political parties, and ultimately improve the entire political |system. 
But Abhisit said that would not be easy to achieve in practice.
He said changing the current situation by writing a law to overhaul it was unrealistic because there was not a mechanism to build the confidence of party members. He added that members of political parties often forfeited many rights.
“There are many laws that discriminate against political party members. Also, in the past, sometimes the state authority was abused to threaten political rivals. Political party members who were powerless sometimes fell victims of the abuse of power,” Abhisit said.
If the problem persists, people will not want to register as party members, he said, adding that the concern should be addressed before members are required to pay membership fees.
The Democrat leader added that it was important to make political activities inexpensive to get rid of the patronage and financier systems in politics. He said parties did not need to be subsidised by the state but it should help them to compete fairly.
For instance, the former prime minister said a crucial job for parties was to communicate with people so the state might want to allocate equal resources for each party to do so.
However, Abhisit said he did not want political parties to only focus on the rules and regulations that are currently being written. Rather, he said, they had a duty to think about the future of the country. 
“If all parties are only worried about the organic laws, the country will miss an opportunity [to realise meaningful policies]. But at the same time, I want the lawmakers to give thought to it – whether they want political parties to put time and energy into the well-being of the people or for themselves,” Abhisit said.