NLA panel scraps senator cross-election method

NLA panel scraps senator cross-election method

A panel considering the organic bill on the selection of senators has decided to have candidates from 15 professional groups elect finalists among themselves, eliminating the football-style cross-election method championed by constitution writers earlier.

Adm Taratorn Kachitsuwan, a spokesman for the National Legislative Assembly panel, said on Friday that senator candidates would come from 15 professional groups, down from 20 in the version of the bill proposed by constitution writers.

“The 20 groups were in fact merged into 15. We didn’t leave out any group,” he said.

The method proposed by the constitution writers, however, was scrapped. The charter drafters maintained that if voting took place only within individual professional groups, it would be easier for candidates to use their connections to manipulate the outcome. Cross-election would be more transparent, they said.

Under the new system, all candidates from each group will elect 13 finalists among themselves.

“We are still keeping the idea of having the elections at the district, provincial and national levels,” he added.

To prevent collusion, if three or more candidates in a group do not win any votes, it will be assumed collusion is involved.

A fresh election will then be called for that group from the district level. The candidates who have not won any votes will not have the right to cast a vote or re-run as candidates.

Since the required number of 200 must be reached, Adm Taratorn said each group would choose 13 winners, totalling 195 and the five groups with the most candidates will get another winner each. 

The charter stipulates 250 senators in the first five years after the next election.

Of the total, six of them will come by position, as the chiefs of the armed forces and police. Another 194 will be handpicked by the National Council for Peace and Order. The remaining 50 will be chosen by the NCPO from 200 candidates who come from professional groups, possibly using the method specified in the bill.

After that period, or by 2022, the number of senators will be reduced to 200 and the senator candidates from professional groups will elect among themselves using the method prescribed in the senator selection law.



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