10 controversies of draft constitution & why crisis panel is needed
CONSTITUTION
10 controversial issues of the draft constitution & why a crisis panelis needed
31/08/2015
Patsara Jikkham, Mongkol Bangprapa & Aekarach Sattaburuth
The draft constitution (draft charter) needs a simple majority to pass the National Reform Council (NRC) - or 124 of its 247 members.
If it is endorsed, it will go to a public referendum, tentatively scheduled for January or February next year.
When the NRC meets next weekend to vote on the constitution, only 10 contentious orcontroversial issues are likely to form the deciding factors, according to some experts.
10 CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES OF THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION
The 10 contentious or controversial issues are:
1. A non-elected prime minister .
2. Mixed member proportional representation .
3. The senate make-up .
4. The impeachment of political office holders .
5. The criminal prosecution of political office holders .
6. Mechanisms to prevent populism .
7. The power of the courts .
8. Enforcement of charter provisions .
9. Future amendments of the charter, and
10. The crisis panel .
WHY A CRISIS PANEL IS NEEDED
Political turmoil could again raise its ugly head when the new constitution is promulgated and the next general election is called, and that is why the nation needs the proposed crisis committee.
There is a possibility conflict could occur on two occasions.
One is during the referendum on the new constitution in January 2016, and the other is during a general election, if the new constitution passes the referendum.
Conflict in the second case, during a general election, would be the most serious.
Conflict over the constitutional referendum should be controllable, because it would involve only opponents to the constitution, which could just be dropped to end the problem.
Conflict after the constitution's promulgation at the next election would be more difficult, because there would be numerous sources of conflict -- protests against election results, independent organisations, the new constitution and the formation of the new government.
PURPOSE OF 2014 COUP TO RESTORE NATIONAL PEACE
...Borwornsak Uwanno, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), said on Monday that the purpose of the May 22, 2014 coup was to restore national peace, because political rivals had been protesting non-stop to oust each other from government since 2006. Without the proposed five-year transitional period toachieve reform and reconciliation, political conflict would return, because politicianshad not changed.
He said the crisis panel would have a five-year life.
Any sign of renewed political conflict would have to be stopped right away, without acoup, and that was why the crisis panel or National Strategic Reform and Reconciliation Committee was needed -- to serve Thai society, he said.
The draft charter includes a clause to establish the crisis committee, which will be given special powers to intervene in a crisis by seizing power from both the government and parliament if such action is deemed necessary.
The panel would include a prime minister and the military and police chiefs, among others. Its special powers would last five years after the new constitution was enacted.
Here is a series of infographics that summarise the final version of the draftconstitution: