Last 2 organic laws will meet deadline for 2018
THE CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission (CDC) is committed to finishing drafts of the remaining organic laws under the legal 240-day deadline so that an election can proceed, CDC member Amorn Vanichwiwat said yesterday.
The two remaining organic laws – one on the election of MPs and the other on the selection of the Senate – must be in place before a general election could be held by November 2018 as announced last week by the junta government.
According to the new charter, the CDC must complete drafting a total of 10 organic laws by 240 days after its promulgation in April 2017.
The CDC chairman, Meechai Ruchuphan, recently affirmed that the body should be able to finish the tasks by next month before forwarding them for the National Legislative Assembly’s deliberation.
One of the law drafts outlines the work of the constitutionally independent National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), and was written with the aim of speeding up probes in graft cases. But the current NACC argues that some of the draft’s points may go against the charter and worries about conflicting language that blurs its authority under the new mechanisms.
One concern, as published on the NACC’s website, is that while the charter assigns the Supreme Court to appoint independent investigators to probe an accused NACC member, the draft of the organic law specifies that the authority to order a probe should also go to the auditor-general, and thus contradicts the charter.
NACC president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said earlier that the NACC planned to elaborate on their concerns to both the CDC and the NLA. Amorn has said that the CDC’s |draft law on the NACC does not violate the charter, but that the CDC would take comments from various sides into |consideration.