The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) will begin amending the draft constitution on Monday in line with a Constitutional Court ruling to give the appointed Senate an added role in waiving the rule that enables outsider candidates to be nominated for the premiership.
CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan yesterday said CDC members will spend the weekend studying details of the court ruling and will start work on the amendments on Monday. The court has given the CDC 15 days to amend the draft charter.
Mr Meechai added that once the amendments are complete, if anyone still thinks the changes do not comply with the court ruling they can file a complaint with the court.
Mr Meechai dismissed some media reports that the CDC had some misgivings about the court's ruling. He insisted that the CDC was willing to follow through on the court's order.
Some media reports previously said the CDC doubted if the charter court ruling went beyond what the CDC had requested.
The Constitutional Court on Wednesday decided the CDC must proceed to rectify two areas of Section 272 of the draft charter in light of the extra question in the referendum being approved on Aug 7.
The extra question asked if the Senate should join MPs in selecting the next prime minister during a five-year transition period.
The court ruled that Section 272 of the draft charter needs amending for senators to join MPs in proposing a motion to suspend the rule requiring prime ministerial candidates to come from political party lists if MPs fail to vote for a prime minister from those lists.
Presently, only MPs are allowed to propose a motion to suspend the rule.
After the existing rule is suspended, at least one-tenth of the MPs can initiate a motion to propose that individuals not included on the party lists be prime ministerial candidates.
However, the court determined senators are not permitted to nominate a prime minister, arguing the charter is designed to place the process of nominating and voting for a prime minister in the hands of MPs, so the selection of a prime minister is off-limits to the Senate.
The court also ruled the process to select a prime minister from outside the political party lists can take place once more during the first five years after the election.
Constitutional Court judge Jarun Pukditanakul yesterday defended the court ruling for the senators to join MPs in proposing the suspension of the motion.
He said the ruling was not aimed at opening the door for an outsider to become prime minister. The court ruling only suggests a way out of political deadlocks that might occur in the future, he said.
Mr Jarun said that the Constitutional Court judges voted 7-2 to allow the senators to join MPs in proposing to suspend the rule.
The senators should be allowed to propose the suspension motion, along with MPs so both the Upper House and the Lower House can work together to solve the deadlock in the event that parliament could not appoint a prime minister from candidates in political parties' lists, he said.
Mr Jarun insisted that the power to nominate a prime minister remain in the hands of MPs.
In ruling on the case, the Constitutional Court acted in compliance with the 2014 interim charter which authorises the court to consider whether the CDC's revisions to the draft charter following the Aug 7 referendum were in line with the will of the voters, Mr Jarun said.