THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Senate ‘could choose as many PMs as needed in five years’

Senate ‘could choose as many PMs as needed in five years’

DEPUTY Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam yesterday put doubts to rest over how many times appointed senators would select a prime minister under the draft constitution.

In the August 7 referendum, voters will cast ballots on whether to reject or accept the charter and they will answer an additional referendum question on whether they agree with allowing the Senate to pick the PM during the Senate’s five-year term. Some observers believe the Senate and MPs can jointly select the PM at least twice.
But Wissanu said the Senate could select the PM as many times as needed based on circumstances. “During the five years that the Senate is in office, if the country has to pick the new PM every year, the Senate will have the authority to select the PM every year,’’ he said.
Speaking at the fourth public hearing held by the Election Commission in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Wissanu said if voters accepted the referendum but rejected the Senate having the authority to pick the PM for five years, the charter draft would be amended and a royal endorsement sought. The general election would then be held. 
He said if voters accepted the charter draft and approved the Senate to pick the PM, a few days would be needed to amend the charter. Royal endorsement is needed before the election can be held.
If the charter draft is rejected, there would be no need to pay attention to the additional referendum question, Wissanu said. 
“We will write a new charter draft [if the current one is rejected] but we will complete it quickly to be in time to hold a general election next year. There is no reason to tell the voters what the unwritten charter draft would be like because this may cause discrimination if voters compare it with the present draft,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, a Dusit poll released the results of a new survey yesterday that showed 69 per cent of respondents said their knowledge of the charter draft remained unchanged despite the CDC campaign. They said the charter draft was hard to understand. 
About 30 per cent said they understood the charter draft better because of information they gleaned from the media.
Around 82 per cent of respondents said they wanted the Election Commission to help the public understand the charter draft more, while 70 per cent said they wanted the EC to campaign for a high voter turnout for the referendum.
Former Democrat Party MP for Bangkok Watchara Petthong said he was confident the August 7 referendum would not be scuttled because of political conflicts.
He said he would vote against the draft and disapproved of the additional question because he stuck to an ideology to uphold democracy.
 
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