A National Legislative Assembly (NLA) committee responsible for vetting an organic law on the composition of the Senate wants to change the way senators are selected after the person drafting the bill raised concerns.
Several members of the committee have proposed changing the bill, notably Sections 40 and 42 which deal with the process of how the legislators are voted into power, said Adm Tharathorn Kajitsuwan, an NLA spokesman.
They proposed shifting away from a system of cross-voting among 20 social and professional groups of candidates to voting within those groups, he said. The NLA committee will discuss the matter again today. It expects to reach a conclusion by next Monday before it hands the bill over for the next round of NLA deliberation on Jan 25.
Adm Tharathorn said the amendment would not breach the charter. Section 107 of the constitution says senators are to be selected by candidates voting among themselves, he said.
If the NLA committee decides to adopt the new method of voting, the number of groups also will have to be decreased from 20 to between five and 10, he added. The committee has already discussed the possibility of reducing the number of groups, as indicated in Section 11 of the draft law, Adm Tharathorn said.
Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan warned the change could open the door to fraud. It would be vulnerable to abuse as a candidate could have his supporters apply and dominate the group to manipulate the vote and seal his victory, said Mr Meechai. As such, the voting-within-a-group approach would be at odds with a principle set down in the charter that says any election must be clean and fair.
The CDC wants up to 20 groups of candidates when the senators are selected to reflect the diversity of their respective backgrounds, Mr Meechai added. Election Commission member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn pointed out previously the multiple-layer voting system was designed to curb vote-buying and lobbying, among other "dishonest acts".