A member of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has insisted the NLA's proposal to let senators nominate a prime minister candidate is not against the intention of the additional referendum question.
The NLA is considering proposing to charter writers how to include in the constitution the additional referedum question that would allow 250 junta-appointed senators to join MPs in voting to select a prime minister.
If the NLA has its way, the steps to choose a prime minister are:
- Each political party proposes a list of three PM candidates who may or may not be MPs before an election.
- Eligible candidates are those on the lists of the parties which have won not less than 5% of all MPs and seconded by not less than 10%.
- MPs and senators choose a PM from the eligible candidates by a majority vote in 30 days. At this stage, senators may not nominate a candidate.
- If they fail to pick a PM within 30 days, senators may nominate candidates who may or may not be from the parties' lists. Both houses vote to choose a PM by a majority vote.
In April, the NLA proposed the additional question to ask voters at the Aug 7 referendum. The question was approved by 58.07% of all 29.74 million people casting votes.
The question is: "Do you agree that, for national reform continuity in line with the national strategy, it should be prescribed in provisional clauses that in the first five years from the parliament is formed under this charter, a joint meeting of Parliament shall consider approving an appropriate person to be prime minister?"
In constitutional jargon, a "joint meeting of Parliament" refers to a meeting between the Senate and the House.
Up until now, the public thought the question meant that senators may join MPs in voting to choose a prime minister from the lists supplied by political parties, not in nominating them.
Constitution writers and their teams also explained it to people that way on various occasions.
