Matchima group leader's autonomous MP views meet ridicule v Assembly delays EC commissioner screening, fearing wrong picks will land it in the soup v PDRC political party rumours have Democrats past and present feeling uneasy
Somsak's time machine
Somsak Thepsuthin could not have picked a worse time to speak his mind about MPs being devoid of affiliation to political parties.
He may have underestimated the extent of the backlash he has been on the receiving end of for, as many critics have put it, trying to wind the country back to the "political dinosaur" age.
The leader of the Matchima group, who was also a former Sukhothai MP, briefly seized the limelight when he held a press briefing to announce his stance that MPs should be independent of a political party so they can be free to think and act of their own accord and not have to come under the influence of parties or their financiers.
The critics, however, lost no time pouring scorn on Mr Somsak's proposal and sarcastically hailed it as a "modern idea" several decades ago.
They insisted it was unthinkable that the bitterly fragmented state that once defined Thai politics would escape the memory of a seasoned politician like Mr Somsak.
At one point, politicians enjoyed the freedom to hop from one party to another without losing their MP status, but were accused of wheeling and dealing to optimise their political gain by switching allegiances.
These moves were blamed for the frequent cabinet changes that perpetuated political fragility set against the backdrop of governments sitting in a quagmire, according to some political scientists.
The protracted instability of governments was a potent ingredient in the recipe to cook up subsequent constitutional changes, the latest of which demands that MPs must belong to a political party.
The experts said that by making politicians toe the party line, there would be less jockeying for cabinet posts than in the past.
However, Mr Somsak appeared determined during last week's press conference to go back in time, much to the dismay of even similarly experienced politicians.
Mr Somsak's idea won more brickbats than roses after being widely dismissed as far-fetched and impractical. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam joined a chorus of critics who questioned why the idea has popped up now that the constitution has long been promulgated.
He said MPs' compulsory subscription to a political party could not be "undone" with an amendment to the already-enacted organic law on political parties, as Mr Somsak has suggested. In fact, it would require altering the constitution since it is stated in the letters of the charter that MPs must be affiliated to a party
Mr Somsak's proposal would involve moving mountains; in this case a constitution which has been endorsed by a three-billion-baht referendum. If the veteran politician were to have his way, amending the charter would requite another costly referendum to reach a consensus over whether the voting population would wish to accommodate his championing of MP independence.
Experts added there was no guarantee that party-less MPs would be independent in their actions. They may still be prone to being bought by financiers who want to round up enough MPs to push for policies that advance their commercial interests.
The experts said there was a next-to-zero chance of Mr Somsak's idea ever materialising. It would be more realistic to speculate on whether his Matchima group members might win enough seats in the poll to contemplate partnering with one of the medium or "compact-sized" parties to form a coalition government after the next general election.
NLA treads very carefully
The National Legislative Assembly's (NLA) recent decision to delay screening the qualifications of all seven candidates chosen to be election commissioners goes to show it is not prepared to throw caution to the wind.
A political source said the lawmakers may have heeded a warning by those in the know that it is better to be late than sorry. If the NLA acted with haste to endorse the seven candidates only to find later that the selection of some of them were problematic, the blame would fall squarely on its shoulders.
The consequence of having election commissioners put to work whose method of selection may be subject to technical and legal questions would be dire, according to experts.
If such commissioners were to take part in deliberating election-related cases and proceed to pass legally binding resolutions, their decisions could be declared null and void, leading relevant legal processes to be stalled. That raises the real danger of preparations for the next general election hitting a snag and of poll-related timelines initiated in the future being disrupted, said the experts.
As the vetting of the qualifications of the seven candidates -- five picked by a selection committee and two others selected by the Supreme Court -- is being put on hold in the NLA, so is the organic law on the Election Commission (EC), which the Constitutional Court will judge, at the request of the current election commissioners, whether some of its contents comply with the charter.
So, legislative steps to enact the organic law and the selection of people to run the commission have ground to a halt.
Some observers are concerned the stalled processes could ultimately have an unfavourable knock-on effect on the timing of the election, which Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has said could be scheduled sometime around November next year.
The organic law on the EC is one of four "groundwork" organic laws essential for holding the next general election. The others pertain to the election of MPs, the selection of senators, and political parties. None of these organic laws, except for that governing political parties, have been enacted.
Despite the mounting concerns over time not being on the EC's side, NLA member Wallop Tangkananurak filed a motion in the assembly on Dec 14 seeking to put off the NLA vetting and certification of the seven EC candidates. His motion was seconded by a number of fellow lawmakers.
The motion was apparently prompted by caution initially voiced by outspoken election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn who specifically pointed to two of the seven EC candidate selections in the quota of the Supreme Court.
Mr Somchai reasoned that the vote through which the two candidates were chosen by the court may not have been an open one. However, the Supreme Court repeatedly maintained the voting method met the legal requirements.
Experts said Mr Somchai may have a point. They felt that in general as well as in practice, an open vote goes beyond ballots being held up by staff at a voting venue to show which vote has been cast for whom.
An open vote, the experts argued, must be traceable to the person who cast the ballot. Typically, a ballot contains a stub or a record of the individual voter registered to cast their ballots.
Mr Wallop has insisted it would be best that the NLA asked the Supreme Court to furnish a written explanation of its voting process and wait until a reply is received.
Mr Wallop added that while the issue over the vote surrounding the two court-chosen candidates was being sorted out, the NLA should keep the brakes on the screening of the other five EC candidates. He said if the five candidates passed the NLA's scrutiny and began serving on the commission, they would have to vote for a chairperson without the two court-picked candidates. That would be unfair to the two candidates who would then have no chance to vie for the EC's top seat.
Suthep post stirs the pot
The long-asked question about whether the now-defunct People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) protest movement will reincarnate into a political party might soon have an answer, say political insiders.
The PDRC's former leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, wrote on his Facebook page this week calling for legal changes to the organic law on political parties to create a level playing field for smaller parties to compete on in the next general election. The call was interpreted as a sure sign that the PDRC was seeking to become a permanent, established political entity.
Insiders said if Mr Suthep harboured no political interests, and he has repeatedly insisted that he has washed his hands of politics for good, he would not have taken to Facebook to argue the case for an amendment to the organic law.
His stand, however, has resulted in a sense of unease among some politicians, notably those in the Democrat Party with which the PDRC shares its popular support base.
Some politicians in the Democrat camp were not too keen about the prospect of the PDRC morphing into a political party and competing with them for MP seats.
A large portion of the PDRC's supporters, who joined its mass protest against the Yingluck Shinawatra administration between October 2013 and May 2014, were from the South which is the Democrats' traditional stronghold.
The PDRC and Democrats have retained amicable ties and it would be unthinkable if their bond was to break over a fight for supporters.
A source with knowledge of the matter said some former Democrat politicians who signed up as core members of the PDRC during the mass protest plan to return to their old party ahead of the next election.
But if Mr Suthep, a former Democrat secretary-general, decides to go ahead and form a PDRC party, core members might be "expected" to occupy executive seats in the new party, which would dash their hopes of returning to the Democrat fold.
The source said the core members joined the PDRC specifically for the purpose of protesting against the Yingluck government. Now that government is long gone and the country is on course for its next poll, members felt compelled to move on to the next phase of their political life, which is to get themselves ready for an election. And they have set their sights on retreating back to the Democrats.
Some former protest leaders are already engaged in activities on the ground to "reconnect" with people presumably under the Democrat umbrella.
The source said a few members have even resorted to prayer, such are their hopes that Mr Suthep will not register a PDRC party.
Also, certain financiers supporting the Democrats appear set to stay put with the country's oldest political party, although they might have a bit of thinking to do if a PDRC party were to come to fruition, which might need their help.
A nagging question on many political watchers' lips is why would Mr Suthep go to the trouble of launching a political party when he still has the respect of, and influence over, many politicians.
A source close to Mr Suthep said a PDRC party would present voters with an alternative to the Democrats, who, in his view, have done little to keep up with the evolving political circumstances.
He said it has been predicted that if the Democrats do not prepare well enough for the coming election, they will inevitably suffer another defeat to the Pheu Thai Party.
