The charter should introduce an eight-year term limit for elected office-holders to keep them from building a political base and allow other politicians a chance to work, a public forum on the charter draft was told Sunday.
The tenure limit should apply to all elected politicians for local and general elections, said Kriangsak Liwchanpattana, a resident of Songkhla's Hat Yai district and a member of the former People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).
Mr Kriangsak said the term limit is to make sure power does not remain in the same hands for too long and the proposed eight years should be enough for the politicians to get the job done.
His proposal drew applause from participants at a charter hearing organised by the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) in Surat Thani.
Under the charter drafted by the CDC, the time a person serves as prime minister will be limited to a maximum of eight years, regardless of how many times he or she has been in the post.
The CDC has designed a system where a person can serve as prime minister more than once but the amount of time he or she has been in the post must not exceed a combined eight years.
After that, he or she cannot serve as prime minister again.
Dolohali Samae, member of a community organisation in Yala, also floated a similar proposal calling for an eight-year term limit for MPs.
He said the term limit will help boost personnel development in politics.
Several participants say they do not mind if a prime minister is not an elected MP as long as the person wins at least two-thirds or three-fifths of support from the House of Representatives.
On the other hand, a candidate for prime minister who is an elected MP should be able to attract at least 50% of support from the House.
The proposal is in response to the CDC's clause requiring parties to nominate three prime ministerial candidates ahead of a general election.
Under this clause, the candidates may or may not be MPs.
Some participants also suggest that parties be required to unveil their potential cabinet ministers ahead of a general election.
Koseng Doromae, a worker from Yala, said he was opposed to the proposed single ballot for both constituency and party-list systems but changed his mind after hearing the CDC's explanation.
He said a ballot count should be conducted at a designated location rather than polling stations to make it difficult for political canvassers to monitor votes in their areas, which can lend itself to poll fraud.
A similar forum in Surat Thani wrapped up Sunday, marking the end of the CDC's two-week effort to gather feedback from stakeholders and the public across the country about the first draft.
The CDC will spend the next several weeks reviewing proposals and suggestions, and revising the draft before submitting the final version of the charter document to the government.
Last week, the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) deliberated on the draft charter and presented its suggestions to the CDC.
The CDC has been sounding out opinions from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the cabinet, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and public forums across the country.
The CDC is required to finish the final draft by March 29, in line with a 180-day time frame stipulated by the interim charter.
The panel is fine-tuning the 270-section draft charter before it is put to a public referendum at the end of July.