NRC gets 84 hours to debate constitution

NRC gets 84 hours to debate constitution

The National Reform Council (NRC) will debate the first draft of the new constitution between April 20-26, with NRC members given up to 84 hours to deliberate, NRC chairman Thienchay Kiranandana revealed Monday. 

He said the debate's seven-day schedule is in line with the interim constitution which stipulates that the NRC must finish deliberating on the charter's first draft within 10 days of receiving it from the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC). 

The section-by-section debate on the charter will be held from 9am-9pm daily and can be extended until midnight if necessary, he said.

Debaters will get a maximum of 84 hours over that period.

Although the charter drafters have now finished the first draft of the charter, they still have time until April 20 to make any changes, Mr Thienchay said.

When the draft charter is submitted to the NRC, copies of the document will be given to NRC members to study before the debate, Mr Thienchay added.

Mr Thienchay also said a motion to propose amendments to the draft charter requires the support of at least 26 NRC members.

Deputy NRC chairwoman Thassana Boonthong said the CDC will spend a total of 15 hours explaining the draft charter to the NRC, while the NRC should spend 64 hours debating it.

Of the total of 84 hours allotted to the NRC members, a 36-hour slot will be given to NRC members who sit on the NRC's 18 standing committees, while the remaining 28 hours will be allocated to NRC non-committee members, Ms Thassana said. 

She said lots will be drawn to decide which panels will debate first, adding the NRC must follow the line-up of debaters and debaters cannot swap their allotted times with fellow NRC members without permission from the NRC chairman.

After the debate, the NRC members will have another 30 days to propose changes to the draft charter.

The 18 NRC panels will work on the issues related to their fields, and five more NRC panels promoting public participation will present public opinions gathered over the past months to the panels.

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