Prayut backs appointed Senate for 5 years

Prayut said that without appointed senators, “the country would see no stability and would not be able to move forward”.

It was the first time that the prime minister publicly supported the idea.

The prime minister, who also heads the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), expressed his backing for an earlier remark made by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan that appointed senators were needed for five years during the transition.

“I think Deputy PM Prawit has the same understanding as mine. He also expects to see old problems emerge if we allow things to continue like before,” Prayut said, noting that in the past many MPs and senators had close connections with one another or were family members.

The premier said appointed senators would help the government by assessing its performance. “It’s the Senate’s duty to take care of the issues of good governance and transparency of government, as well as the country’s strategies,” he said.

Prayut said appointed senators also existed in many other countries. He also pointed out the problems of political conflict that Thailand is still experiencing. 

Meanwhile, National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai yesterday also expressed support for appointed senators during the transitional period. 

Pornpetch disagreed with the original draft constitution, which stipulated that senators would come from 20 different occupations, with representatives voting to select senators from other occupations. He said such a system would make it easy for “bloc voting”. He added that Thailand had appointed senators prior to the Constitution of 1997, which required senators to be elected.

However, Meechai Ruchupan, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), said yesterday he thought the draft provisions on the Senate were “already complete”, as it was intended to be “an assembly of citizens”.

In response to the remarks by Prayut, Prawit and Pornpetch asking for revisions of the clauses regarding senators, Meechai said the CDC had not yet considered the matter.

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that the Cabinet has urged the Election Commission to lower its requested Bt3-billion budget to hold the national referendum on the draft charter.

“The Cabinet has resolved that the budget should be restricted because Bt3 billion is too much,” he said.