BANGKOK, 26 Nov 2014 – The People’s Democratic Reform Council (PDRC) yesterday met with the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), giving its suggestions on what should be included in the new charter.
CDC Spokesperson General Lertrat Rattanawanich indicated the PDRC has focused on 2 aspects, one on the direction of the national reform and the other on an outline of the new charter.
According to the PDRC, it would be ideal for the national reform to establish a system of checks and balances for the legislative, administrative and judicial branches and also for the independent organizations. It suggested a method be established to attract decent individuals to enter the politics while the capitalism in political parties should be discouraged.
As for the scopes of the charter drafting, the PDRC has made several suggestions including measures to eliminate vote buying, and reduction of Election Commission’s authority. It thought the commission should only be tasked with investigating election-related corruption cases and then hand over the cases to the court to make the conclusion.
The PDRC said Members of Parliament should only come from an election while Senators should be selected from a wide range of professions with the authority to issue laws, appointing political positions but not impeachment.
It also suggested a lifetime ban from politics for those who have proven to take part in corruption.
Meanwhile, Democrat Party Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has confirmed his meeting with the CDC tomorrow (Nov 27th), General Lertrat said, adding that the Pheu Thai Party has yet to set a date with the committee, but expected the meeting to be sometime next month.
General Lertrat expected the CDC would be able to set the basic outline for the charter drafting by February, after which representatives from political parties would be invited for comment.
