The Office of the Ombudsman has decided to seek a Constitutional Court ruling on whether the Section 44 order issued by the prime minister to amend the organic law on political parties violates the constitution.
The decision was prompted by petitions submitted to the office by the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties. Both parties hope to have that order revoked.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha invoked Order No.53/2017 in his capacity as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Dec 22 last year. The power to issue such orders existed under the previous interim charter, but has been carried over to the present constitution.
The order was met with fierce criticism from both parties.
They shared the view that the order violates basic rights to party membership guaranteed by the constitution and creates unnecessary burdens.
Raksakecha Chaechai, the Ombudsman office's secretary-general, said on Friday his office has concluded the order will cause excessive burdens on parties, and could be deemed to violate the constitution.
After considering the petitions, the office had agreed the parties would be directly affected by the order, Mr Raksakecha said.
In particular, the requirement for party members to produce letters confirming their membership and pay party fees by April 30 or lose their status may violate their basic rights and cause additional burdens. Mr Raksakecha said the office thought the April 30 deadline was very tight.
The amendment to the organic law on parties has lead to various contentious issues.
Among them are parties being required to hold general assemblies, elect leaders and executives, write a manifesto and regulations, and set up provincial branches within 90 days of the NCPO ban on political activities being lifted.
The Section 44 order also allows the Election Commission to extend the 90-day deadline only once. After the deadline extension, parties that fail to complete the required processes will have their status terminated.
However, Mr Raksakecha said that if the charter court does not give any ruling on April 1, parties are still required to abide by the Section 44 order and carry out the processes from Sunday as stipulated by the order.
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Friday the Office of the Ombudsman should also ask the NCPO leader to amend the order as the office has the authority to do so, as well as forwarding the petitions to the charter court.
This will be a quicker way to fix the problem than seeking a Constitutional Court ruling, Mr Abhisit said.
Democrat deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat said the Ombudsman's office had not asked the NCPO chief to revise the order because it wants to avoid displeasing the NCPO.
