Organic law for Constitutional Court approved by NLA, sent to other agencies

The court would also be empowered to impose temporary measures to prevent severe and irreparable damages and any foreseen fast-approaching violence.
The legislation was approved by the Assembly with 188 votes to none, with five abstentions, after hours of an intense debate.
One of the most contentious points was the provision, revised by an NLA vetting committee, to empower the Constitutional Court to issue temporary measures before it made a decision on coming cases to prevent irreversible damages or violence.
Banjerd Sinkaneti, a member of the NLA vetting committee and also a law professor, argued that the imposition of temporary measures were widely used in other countries with a Constitutional Court, including Germany and Austria. To do otherwise risks winning the case but losing in reality because a loss had already been inflicted or incurred, Banjer said. 
However, a minority of the committee and NLA members argued that the court should be non-partisan.
The issue was finally resolved by granting the court the power to issue temporary measures without scrutiny by the Lower House.
Another point over which the legislators extensively argued involved the terms of Constitutional Court judges.
While the CDC had laid out a fundamental principle that those failing to meet the new qualifications set in the new charter should be required to leave office, the NLA vetting committee had revised the draft and allowed the judges to stay on regardless of their qualifications.
There are now nine Constitutional Court judges, four of whom have unexpired terms, while the terms have expired for the other five. There would be a new selection to replace the five judges, but the NLA voted to allow them to stay until the House convenes.
Former judge Supoj Kaimook argued that it would not be graceful to allow the judges whose terms had already expired to remain in office for too long.
However, other legislators reasoned that the delay in replacing them would allow the participation of the president of the Lower House as well as the head of the opposition in the selection process.
The draft would be submitted to the Constitutional Court and the CDC for further review.
A joint committee could be set up in the event that one of the agencies disagreed with the NLAs draft.