The all-powerful Section 44 of the interim charter should be invoked to address problems concerning the primary voting system, National Legislative Assembly (NLA) vice-president Surachai Liangboonlertchai says.
Mr Surachai on Wednesday suggested Section 44 be used to fast-track any amendment to the organic law on political parties which features the primary vote, in which members of parties choose their MP candidates.
Mr Surachai said the law has now taken effect but there has been concern about whether there will be enough time for parties to conduct primary votes, a mandatory step giving party members a say in selecting their MP candidates.
Those involved must find ways to address problems which the election primaries pose, though they must not lose sight of the principle of having the public participate in the process of choosing their MP candidates, which is enshrined in the constitution, Mr Surachai said.
But if the law on parties is to be amended to fix the primary vote issue, the power under Section 44 should be invoked to table an amendment bill to the NLA, Mr Surachai said. Using Section 44 to propose the legal amendment will be faster, compared to the normal law-making procedure which also requires that the proposed amendments undergo a public hearing process under Section 77 of the charter, Mr Surachai said.
He said that if there are no too many amendments to the law on the parties, the NLA will consider and endorse the proposed changes via Section 44 in three straight readings. "The faster the problem is solved, the better," Mr Surachai said.
Parties have long complained there is too little time left before the next election, tentatively scheduled for Feb 24, for them to organise primaries. There have been informal discussions about cancelling or scaling back the primary voting system to give parties more time before the poll.
Commenting on Mr Surachai's suggestion on the use of Section 44, law academic Jade Donavanik, an adviser to the Constitution Drafting Committee, said Section 44 should be used to cancel the primary vote instead.
The primary vote creates an unnecessary burden on parties and could also potentially lead to conflict within the parties, Mr Jade said. He said party candidates should be selected transparently without any hidden agenda and agreed party members should have a say in choosing poll candidates.
Parties should lay down a clear set of criteria to screen candidates to run in the polls, Mr Jade said.
Democrat Party deputy leader and former MP for Rayong Sathit Pitudecha said he suspected the government was using the NLA to circumvent the requirement for the public and party members to participate in the process.
Mr Sathit referred to Mr Surachai's suggestion for the use of Section 44 to amend the law on parties to suspend the primary vote.
Mr Sathit said the push to amend the law via Section 44 was intended to help parties established to support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to reclaim the premiership after the election.
