Political parties are split on the Constitution Drafting Committee's (CDC) organic bill on politics, saying the bill will put small parties at a disadvantage ahead of the general election, a member of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) says.
NLA member Wanlop Tangkhananurak, also spokesman of the NLA committee studying the bill, made the remarks yesterday after the committee invited representatives of political parties to give their views on the bill drawn up by the CDC.
Mr Wanlop said the CDC has finalised two organic bills necessary to pave the way for a general election -- one on the Election Commission (EC) and the other on political parties.
The CDC will submit them to the NLA for deliberation today. Details have been released over the past few days.
The NLA has 60 days in which to deliberate the bills and pass them into law, Mr Wanlop said.
He said parties invited to discuss the bill agreed the measure has been designed to severely weaken political parties.
Parties also disagreed with a proposed provision which requires party members to pay an annual membership fee of 100 baht.
No such fee has been collected from members in the past, Mr Wanlop quoted the parties as saying.
Mr Wanlop said that once the bill reaches the NLA, a committee will be set up to scrutinise the bill based on the parties' opinions.
He added the NLA scrutiny panel may have to revise certain provisions of the bill such as the 100-baht annual membership fee, and provisions that impose severe punishment, including the dissolution of parties in cases where parties are found to allow outsiders to influence or meddle with their internal management.
Mr Wanlop said it would be hard to prove whether political parties are allowing outsiders to influence them.
Another provision that may be revised is one requiring parties to recruit at least 10,000 members over four years, he added.
This provision should not pose a problem for major and medium-sized parties, but it would cause trouble for small parties, Mr Wanlop said.
Gen Somjate Boonthanom, chairman of the NLA committee studying the bill on parties, said the measure should not be revised too much at this stage as it was still new.
The revisions will be based on the opinions of the CDC, political parties and the NLA, he said.
CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan earlier said the CDC is required to finish the drafting of the 10 organic laws within 240 days and forward them to the NLA for deliberation, but these two organic bills must be finished first.