Encouraging voters to vote "No" in an MP election can be deemed illegal if the campaigner adds negative opinions about a candidate, according to the current draft of the organic law on MP elections.
The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) panel deliberating the bill has removed the clause that says trying to convince anyone to vote "No" to a particular candidate is not considered mudslinging.
The new clause which makes such campaigning tougher is intended to clean up electioneering and encourage candidates to emphasise their good points rather than merely criticise their opponents, Taweesak Suthakavatin, spokesman of the panel said Monday.
CDC member Jade Donavanik said telling other people to not vote for candidates in general is alright but adding opinions about particular candidates might be subject to a legal complaint.
Voting "No" is a powerful tool for voters. Yet under the changes, any candidate who receives the highest number of votes in a constituency will win only if the number of the votes exceeds the "No" vote.
So, a candidate can get more votes than his opponents but if his number of votes still falls short of the total number of no votes in the constituency, a new election will be needed. Therefore, parties will have to carefully select the candidates they field. The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is holding public hearings on the bill until Wednesday. After that it will review feedback and take the bill before the NLA for a decision.
While the organic law on the Election Commission and the organic law on political parties have been already passed, the two other organic bills still to come are the laws on the election of MPs and the selection of senators. An MP election must be held within 150 days of these two laws being passed, according to the constitution.
In a separate development Monday, the NLA voted 197-1 to pass the organic anti-graft law, with seven members abstaining.
Once published in the Royal Gazette, the law will be effective as the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the CDC, which first drafted the bill, did not oppose any clause of the deliberated bill or request of setting up a joint committee. The NACC law is the eighth out of the 10 organic laws needed.
Among the controversial points, the NLA voted 157-26 with 29 NLA members abstaining to pass Section 178 which allows current NACC members to stay on even though the qualifications for NACC members have changed according to the new law.
CDC spokesman Udom Rathamarit said the CDC would not oppose the decision as the Constitutional Court had ruled in a previous case, on the status of the current ombudsmen, which left the matter open.
It said the NLA could decide whether they should be allowed to stay on despite similar changes to qualifications taking place there.
