Bring in the boffins

I believe the controversial problem of allocating party-list members of the House of Representatives according to Section 91 of the constitution requires the attention of professional mathematicians.

This is according to my understanding of two translations into English of Section 91 -- one issued by the Office of the Council of State, and one issued jointly by the International Institute for Democracy and Electorial Assistance, the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Thailand, and the International International Commission of Jurists.

The numbers calculated according to Section 91(2) specifying how the party-list members are to be allocated will each be the sum of a whole number and a fraction less than one. There will be no problem using the whole numbers to allocate some of the party-list candidates.

The fractions less than one will collectively add up to a whole number for the remaining party-list members. These fractions can be used to make a fair allocation of the remaining party list members to candidates starting with the largest, and continuing until all the 150 party list members have been allocated. Unfortunately, Section 91(4) as it now stands would then be violated, but only by fractions of a membership less than one.

Robert Exell
Electoral colleges

I enjoyed Eric Bahrt's description of two of the three last elected American presidents, one a warmonger, the other a sociopath. Mr Bahrt's colourful descriptions failed to mention a sexual deviant, a candidate who was a demented, lying witch, (his do-no-wrong Hillary), and an out of date ancient socialist who should be staying home playing with his grandchildren.

As for the electoral college, Mr Bahrt writes, "…many Americans oppose the electoral college because it benefited a candidate we didn't like". "We", Mr Bahrt? The word we speaks for Mr Bahrt, not for me, or many others who look at the electoral college as an integral part of how one chooses a president.

As the old quote tells us, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it". Look at how well the popular vote worked in Thailand. An egomaniac who is now a fugitive, a glamorous sister who was couped out and joined her sociopath brother, and a few others. Perhaps Thailand needs an electoral college as well.

Charcoal Ridgeback
Crossings a prority

Re: "Rail crossings remain unsafe", Editorial, April 14.

The government could and should initiate a nationwide campaign to solve the problem once and for all. After mapping out all the unsafe crossings along national rail routes, with a well-planned programme, the government should invite the private sector, local and national, under CSR with a double tax deduction incentive, to carry out the installation of barriers at selected crossings. The government could also take credit for stimulating the local economy if the programme could be realised within a short period of time, like one or two years.

Amnach Sriratanaban
Prisoner assistance

Janice Wongsurawat in her April 13 letter asks for the names of individual prisoners to enable her to send on books. I would like to suggest a programme in Klong Prem Prison. She may find the information she is looking for by entering some keywords "phaseloop" and "klongprem".

Good luck.

Brian Corrigan
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