The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) may authorise the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) to impeach politicians who abuse their power, according to a CDC source.
The source said yesterday the committee may give impeachment power to the NACC instead of the Senate, given the likelihood of the charter being amended to have an all-appointed Upper House.
If the Senate is wholly appointed, it should not be vested with the power to impeach political post-holders who are elected MPs, the source said, so the power should be handed to the NACC.
The NACC currently investigates allegations of political post-holders abusing their power and recommends their impeachment to the Senate.
The CDC is expected to announce more details Friday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has also asked people to think carefully about the debate on whether there should be a non-MP prime minister.
The CDC, he said, has tried to set clear rules regarding the origin of a prime minister, and whether he or she can be a non-MP. This will prevent future political conflict stemming from the origin being open to interpretation, the PM said.
Meanwhile, the Pheu Thai Party has slammed as "useless" the Constitution Drafting Committee proposal for political parties to disclose their prime minister nominees before elections.
Former Pheu Thai MP for Ubon Ratchathani Somkid Chuekhong yesterday said he had no idea what purpose the proposal would serve because in previous election systems each political party submitted party-list candidates with party leaders usually at the top of the lists.
If a party won the election, its leader would be chosen as a prime minister automatically anyway, he said.
Mr Somkid said that in the 2011 election Yingluck Shinawatra was not the Pheu Thai leader, but she was No.1 on the party list, which suggested to voters that the party's No.1 candidate would be chosen as prime minister if the party won the election.
In light of this, the CDC proposal would be useless, Mr Somkid said.
Former Pheu Thai MP for Chiang Rai Samart Kaewmeechai agreed that the CDC should not seek to change the previous method where the No.1 candidate of each party was regarded as their prime ministerial candidate.
Mr Samart also insisted a prime minister must only be an elected MP to be more accountable to the public, and that MPs must be members of political parties.
Democrat Party deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat also opposed the proposal for a non-elected prime minister.
It is natural for a political party which wins the majority of House seats in a parliamentary system to propose their leader to become prime minister, he said.
The CDC is currently mulling the selection process for a prime minister amid suggestions there is no need for the country's leader to be an elected MP.
