Draft charter changes to be postponed
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Draft charter changes to be postponed
Delay will ease political rift, say govt whips
AEKARACH SATTABURUTH
The draft charter amendments proposed by the government and a group led by Weng Tojirakarn will be postponed from this week’s session of parliament to avoid aggravating political tension, government whips said
Chief government whip Witthaya Buranasiri said after a meeting of the coalition government and Senate whips yesterday that the parliament session to consider the proposed amendment to Article 291 of the 2007 charter to pave the way for the establishment of a new constitution drafting assembly (CDA) will be postponed because the amendment draft could not be finished in time.
Mr Witthaya said, however, the whips had discussed the qualifications of members of the new CDA and agreed that members of past constitution drafting bodies - the 2007 CDA and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that approved the 2007 charter - should not be allowed to join the new CDA as some have political connections.
The whips would consider whether the members of political parties should be allowed to be members of the new CDA because about 30 million people are members of political parties, he said.
They have asked each coalition party and the Senate to propose to the whip in the next meeting a CDA member selection process they believe to be the most free and fair.
Meanwhile, Kiattikorn Pakpiansilp, a whip from the Matchimathipataya party, said he believed the whips would eventually shelve the draft charter amendment proposed by Mr Weng’s group in a bid to ease the ongoing political rifts.
“Everybody knows where Mr Weng is from,” said Mr Kiattikorn, also a Prachin Buri coalition MP.
However, Mr Witthaya said Mr Weng’s charter amendment draft had not been discussed in the whip’s meeting yesterday as the whips spent most of their time negotiating the framework for the Thai-Cambodian border talks proposed by the cabinet.
Another government whip from the People Power party, Grp Capt Anudit Nakhonthap, said government whips have not yet talked about shelving Mr Weng’s draft.
Grp Capt Anudit said the draft could not be withdrawn from the parliament as more than 70,000 voters had signed a petition supporting the draft. He believed, though, that the parliament would have no time to read Mr Weng’s draft during the present session.
It was possible that the draft will be reviewed by the new CDA.
Seri Suwanpanont, the former vice-chairman of the 2007 CDA, said the government whip and the Senate whip’s proposal that former CDA and NLA members be barred from joining the new CDA was an attempt to block people the government could not control from the new charter drafting body.
Opposition chief whip Sathit Wong-nongtoei yesterday supported the government whips’ plan to defer the vetting on Mr Weng’s charter amendment draft, but noted it would only delay it.
To end the political disputes, the government must withdraw Mr Weng’s draft from parliament, said Mr Sathit.
Bangkok Post
Tuesday October 28, 2008
