The chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) on Monday defended his proposal for an electoral system under which votes for unsuccessful constituency MP candidates would be used to allocate party list seats.
Under Meechai Ruchupan's proposal, a single ballot would be used for both the constituency and party-list MPs. Votes cast for the losing constituency candidates will be used to calculate the number of party list seats, and not discarded as under the old first-past-the-post system.
Critics say that under this mixed-members apportionment electoral system, larger political parties would gain fewer seats.
Mr Meechai said the proposal was designed to reflect voters' wishes, and was not for the benefit of political parties. He added it could be seen as "reconciliation" as political parties would be given seats based on voters' support.
The chairman hit back at critics who claimed the system was not used by any other country, saying Thais could create their own electoral system suitable to their political environment.
"If we use the world community as a basis, let me ask you if you know any country where politicians threaten not to divert funds to your province if you don't vote for them. Here, we do have such politicians," Mr Meechai said. "But if a new system is introduced, every province will have votes for every party. We will be able to say that the whole country supports the government and other parties."
Citing results from the 2011 general election, Mr Meechai said that in 120 of the 375 constituencies, the votes cast for the winning candidates were fewer than the votes cast for the other candidates combined.
"So, would we continue to ignore these votes? Would we give them all to the winner?" he said.
Mr Meechai said the CDC was open to criticism from parties and academics, as long as their remarks were beneficial to the public. He also noted the committee was working on the ratio between constituency MPs and the party-list MPs, which was likely to be 3:1.
He said the screening of candidates would be tougher and the qualifications and prohibitions would be made much clearer under the new charter.
Pheu Thai Party members yesterday continued to criticise the proposal to convert the votes cast for losing candidates in constituency elections into party list votes.
Noppadon Pattama, a former foreign minister, said the one-ballot system would distort the intentions of voters.
This was because while the votes cast for the losing candidates would count toward the party lists, the votes cast for the winners would not be counted, he said.
"We want a system that is free and fair to all political parties," he said.
Pheu Thai politician Chaturon Chaisaeng said yesterday the Meechai charter would not differ much from the Borwornsak Uwanno version, given its content on members of public independent organisations. He called on the CDC to revise how members of the organisations are selected to ensure they come from diverse backgrounds, and do not come under parliamentary scrutiny.
"Moreover, these new rules must apply as soon as the charter takes effect. Those appointed by the coup-makers or coup-installed bodies should vacate their offices," he said.
Meanwhile, CDC member Norachit Sinhaseni said yesterday the panel was debating whether voting should be a right or a duty.
During the Borwornsak panel's charter drafting, the findings of at least two polls showed overwhelming support for voting to be a duty, he said. However, the latest survey by Nida Poll showed that 55% of respondents wanted it to be a right.
"We could revoke political rights as punishment [for those who fail to vote], but those who have never voted don't care anyway," he said.