A proposal for the direct election of the prime minister and the cabinet faces mounting opposition as critics are concerned the plan will give a directly-elected premier too much power and weaken the checks-and-balances system.
electiongenerica Leaders of both the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties have come out strongly against a proposal for direct election of the prime minister as part of political reform. (AFP photo)
The majority on the political reform committee under the National Reform Council (NRC) last week agreed the prime minister and the cabinet should be directly elected by the public, instead of by the House of Representatives.
Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, who chairs the NRC committee, said the 27-member panel finalised its decision on the matter on Monday.
The proposal will now be forwarded to the NRC for consideration. It will then be passed on to the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) on Dec 19 to consider including it in the new constitution, Mr Sombat said.
However, NRC member Prasarn Maruekapitak, the committee's spokesman, said a directly-elected prime minister and cabinet could have too much power and be difficult to keep in check.
This could run counter to the principle of reform which seeks to give the public more power than the government, said Mr Prasarn who was among the dissenting minority.
He added that if a directly-elected premier does not come from a political party that holds the majority of seats in the House, they could find it hard to work together.
Mr Prasarn said minority members who oppose the proposal will explain their position to the CDC between Dec 15-17.
Deputy Democrat Party leader Nipit Intarasombat also opposed the proposal. He said if a prime minister is to be elected directly by voters, those who support this system must accept that the premier will have more power than a prime minister chosen from elected MPs.
Mr Nipit also said that removing a directly-elected premier from office via a censure debate may lead to problems.
For example, if a directly-elected premier, who faces a censure debate, does not have enough support from the House of Representatives, the government could risk collapsing quickly, Mr Nipit said.
The direct election of a prime minister will render the opposition party and the checks-and-balances system meaningless, he added.
Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political scientist from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said the direct election of a prime minister is not part of the parliamentary system and is not suited to Thailand.
Such an election system ignored the importance of MPs who represent the public, Mr Yutthaporn said, adding that even the US president is not directly elected by the voters, but by an electoral college.
Former Pheu Thai MP Somkid Chuekhong also opposed the idea, saying problems would arise if a directly-elected premier refuses to listen to parliament by claiming that he or she was elected by the public.
But Mr Sombat allayed concern Monday that a prime minister and cabinet directly elected by the people could weaken the checks-and-balance system. He said mechanisms will be designed to keep them in check. For example, a committee would be set up to work with prosecutors to handle cases against a directly-elected prime minister and cabinet members and indict them in the Supreme Court, he said.
Mr Sombat, former rector of the National Institute of Development Administration, said censure debates and no-confidence votes, which were part of the checks-and-balances system in the past, had never succeeded in removing prime ministers or cabinet ministers from office.
He also said directly electing the prime minister and cabinet is different from the presidential system. He said Thailand still uses the parliamentary system with the King as head of state, while a directly-elected prime minister would be a government leader, not the head of state.
CDC chairman Bowornsak Uwanno said the proposal would be forwarded to the NRC between Dec 15-17.
The CDC would take the proposals from the NRC for consideration between Dec 18-26, when a resolution on the framework for drafting a new constitution is expected to be reached.
Mr Bowornsak said the direct election proposal was only a suggestion by an NRC committee, not a final resolution by the CDC. He said the process of gathering input on the charter from the cabinet, the National Legislative Assembly, the NRC and the National Council for Peace and Order would be carried out simultaneously with the drafting of the new constitution.
This process would continue until mid-April next year and the new charter draft should take shape by the end of July, he said.