An electoral system based on the German model was considered by the Constitution Drafting Committee's (CDC) third subcommittee working on the framework of the new constitution at a meeting late last week, reports said.
At the meeting chaired by Sujit Boonbongkarn members proposed different methods of election for consideration, so the subcommittee could better decide which would best suit Thai society.
Electoral models of several countries, including those of Australia and Germany, were proposed for consideration.
The majority of the subcommittee preferred the German model proposed by Nakarin Sritrairat.
The German model is based on proportional representation, with the number of representatives of each political party based on the overall number of votes cast for it, enabling medium and small parties to have a better chance to getting more members of parliament. Voters caste a second ballot to decide the winner in individual constituencies.
For example, if the Thai parliament has 500 MPs: if Party A gets 10% of votes in the party list system (which guarantees 50 seats) and at the same time wins 50 MPs in the constituency system, the party will in the end have only 50 MPs from constituencies.
If Party B gets 10% of the votes in the party list system, or 50 MPs, and wins 30 MPs in the constituency system, it will have altogether 50 MPs in this ratio - 30 from constituencies and 20 from the party list.
The German model places emphasis on the overall vote for each party.
The German model is different from the Thai electoral system set down in the 1997 and 2007 constitutions, under which MPs were elected from both the party list and constituency systems, enabling some parties to get more MPs than they should have.
Sources said the majority of the subcommittee on the constitution's framework agreed with the German model and would propose it to the main CDC chaired by Bowornsak Uwanno for consideration on Dec 12-13.