Wissanu weighs in on ballots
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that using a single ballot or two ballots would not make any difference as long as constituents knew their votes were meaningful.
“If all of them [votes] were counted, it would mean people’s voices are respected,” he said.
The Constitution Drafting Commission had proposed using one ballot to elect constituency MPs.
Under that system, the votes for failed candidates would be included in calculating party-list seats for the failed candidates’ party in a bid to make every vote “count”.
But the CDC later reviewed the formula after criticism that winning candidates would be at a disadvantage.
They said all the votes that all candidates – winners and losers – received would go to determining the total number of parliamentary seats that each party would get.
Regarding complaints that using one ballot is like forcing voters to choose only constituency MPs, but their votes would be weighed for both constituency seats and party-list seats, Wissanu said it depended on the design.
One ballot could contain several boxes and voters could mark more than one box, he said, adding that it could save costs.
“We previously voted with two ballots – one for constituency and the other for party-list. If we put the two voting systems onto one ballot, the left [box] for constituency and right [box] for the list, this is a single ballot, isn’t it?”
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