The Move Forward Party (MFP) on Thursday slammed the Democrat Party-sponsored charter amendment bill seeking to revise the electoral system, saying the bill was flawed and did not warrant further scrutiny.
Thirajchai Phanthumat, MFP list-MP and member of the 45-member committee set up to vet the bill, said the panel was split over the document.
It stopped short of seeking big changes to the voting system. Instead, the Democrat-sponsored bill specified that only Section 83 and Section 91 be amended and left out other charter provisions governing the voting system, he said.
The proposed amendment to Section 83 seeks to change the number of constituency MPs from 350 to 400 and restore the old selection formula for 100 list MPs instead of the current number of 150 list MPs, Mr Thirajchai said.
Section 91 deals with the calculation method for list MPs, but the Democrat-sponsored bill does not specify any method, he said. The two other charter amendment proposals by the Pheu Thai Party and the Palang Pracharath Party clearly said they would seek changes to the voting system, paving the way for amending other sections concerning the system, he said. However, both bills had been rejected, he said.
Mr Thirajchai said panel members were split in two. One side insists that other provisions could also be amended even though they were not specified in the Democrat's bill, he said.
However, the other disagrees saying it could violate the constitution if other provisions which are not stipulated in the bill are amended, he said. Without changing the voting system, the changes would only benefit large political parties at the expense of smaller ones, he added.
"We think [the panel] shouldn't proceed or the draft should be withdrawn for revision. In fact, the entire charter should be amended, not just the voting system."