Surachai in surprise win for deputy speaker post | Bangkok Post: news

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Surachai in surprise win for deputy speaker post

Published: 21 Aug 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Appointed senator Surachai Liangboonlertchai was yesterday selected as the first deputy Senate speaker in a secret ballot.

Surachai: Wins by four-vote margin

Mr Surachai defeated elected senator from Prachin Buri Suradet Jirathiticharoen by 73 votes against 69.

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bikeme
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Discussion 10 : 21 Aug 2012 at 17.0210
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D3 & D7 - 25% of the PTP MPs are "appointed", they are called Party List MPs. They were not elected directly by the people, they were chosen by the party big wig. Is this any more democratic? No it still favors the elite.

What I find interesting and disturbing, is that when the PPP was dissolved, somehow their party list seats magically became the PTP's. When the PPP was dissolved their party list seats should have been forfeit, and their appointed MPs stripped of their status. And since the PTP didn't contest in any election at that point, they should not have been given any Party List seats. But then TIT.
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Eric
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Discussion 9 : 21 Aug 2012 at 10.469
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Dis#1, dominance occur when you have weak opposition.
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bluebottle
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Discussion 8 : 21 Aug 2012 at 10.418
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Could this be the start of something good?
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bobby2000
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Discussion 7 : 21 Aug 2012 at 09.547
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The fact that Senators are appointed and not elected clearly indicates that a group of powerful people are trying to control the country and undermine the influence of any elected government that tends to go against their interest. It is quite interesting how certain commentators tend to portray the elected government as a bigger threat to "democracy" than the unelected power-holders working in the shadows.
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pointoffew
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Discussion 6 : 21 Aug 2012 at 09.526
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Six years after the coup, what's stopping those appointed senators from resigning, making place for elected senators? If there has ever been a valid excuse for their appointment, it certainly isn't valid anymore.
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samut
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Discussion 5 : 21 Aug 2012 at 09.325
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A win for check and balance I hope.
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bern1005
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Discussion 4 : 21 Aug 2012 at 09.294
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Democracy is deeply flawed, it can and does produce bad governments and bad laws. However, the reason it is the "best" system is that, under a true democracy, when a party (or a politician) behaves badly enough for long enough the electorate can get rid of them. For this reason, party lists are a bad idea and appointed senators are even worse.
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hyponeros
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Discussion 3 : 21 Aug 2012 at 08.503
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Appointed senators have nothing to do in a democracy!
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bluebkk
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Discussion 2 : 21 Aug 2012 at 08.452
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Oops, all the pressure put on the senators to choose another puppet for the Dubai/PT/UDD farce have failed!
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Renaissance
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Discussion 1 : 21 Aug 2012 at 07.331
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It seems like quite a few Senators can see through Thaksin's intentions of controlling the Senate in order to control the independent organizations, which could stop his potentially corrupt, total domination of the country.
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