Further election delay if revised MP, senator laws reviewed by CDC
NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said on Thursday that the creation of a joint law-review committee to examine the two last organic laws governing the selections of MPs and senators would not further delay the election beyond February of next year, as the review is a normal process that could conclude within the timeframe given.
However, there would be a problem or delay if the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) later disagreed with the joint panel and voted down the bills.
The two bills recently received the NLA’s endorsement, including amendments suggested by its law vetting committees that caused changes to the original versions drafted by the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC).
The critical impact of those changes is to delay the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days, resulting in the initially scheduled November election date being delayed to February 2019.
In the senate bill, the changes also include the waiver of a critical measure of a cross-selection among 20 professional guilds that the CDC had proposed as a key prevention of collusion that would corrupt the selection process.
Having passed the NLA’s endorsement, the amended bills are now passed on to concerned parties, for their review. The CDC will review the constitutionality of the bills as amended. If they raise a point of constitutionality and oppose the bills, another joint law-review committee would then be set up accordingly.
CDC chief Meechai Ruchupan said the CDC has now received the two bills for consideration and would have time until February 9 to consider them before deciding whether to endorse them.
Meechai’s own opinion is that the NLA’s reason for delaying the enforcement of the MP election bill to 90 days is acceptable, but the CDC needs to look into its practicality, especially in regards to primary voting for which parties need time to prepare.
The CD would particularly look into the changes to the senate bill, which was primarily aimed at creating a people’s forum with representatives selected from various fields. The NLA’s law-vetting committee reduced the number of these fields or “guilds” from 20 to 10 groups, a change adopted by a vote of the NLA.
Meechai said the ongoing law review is unlikely to result in the election being cancelled, but if the CDC felt it had to change the reviewed bills and the NLA subsequently rejected the CDC’s changes, the NLA is the body that must be responsible for the consequences.