The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has included a provision to prohibit potential MP and Senate candidates whose parents and spouses have political positions from competing for seats.
The charter writers agreed to add the ban as a provisional clause while they were deliberating the chapter concerning parliament, CDC spokesman Chartchai Na Chiangmai told a news conference at a hotel in Phetchaburi.
Under the new regulation, those wanting to contest MP and Senate elections must not have parents and spouses who are active MPs, senators, members of local administrative bodies, or local administrators. They must not hold any political position including being a director at an independent organisation.
Also, people from the same family would be barred from running in an election in the same district, Mr Chartchai said.
Mr Charchai admitted the drafters previously did not figure in the ban as they had approached the issue from a human rights perspective and feared it could deprive the candidates’ parents, children and spouses of their political rights.
But they had second thoughts after public concerns over nepotism in the House and the Senate were raised in various forums and a recent opinion survey conducted by the National Institute for Development Administration.