CDC denies being told to reset parties

>> The Constitution Drafting Committee yesterday denied claims it had been given an order to overhaul membership of political parties, a move widely known as a “set zero” approach to realign affiliations.

CDC spokesman Udom Rathamarit said the committee had no desire or plan to proceed with a reset approach as several politicians had speculated.

He said the committee’s principle was to ensure political parties truly belonged to the people and their members would not be left out of party affairs. He said the committee would consider opinions from all stakeholders when writing up the organic laws.

The committee is in the process of drafting 10 organic laws, four of which are necessary for organising a general election.

They cover the election of MPs and the selection senators, and the composition of political parties and the Election Commission.

“I don’t think major political parties should be concerned about ‘resetting’ party membership,” Mr Udom said.

“Unlike small parties, they already have a large membership base.”

He was responding to a claim by former Democrat MP Watchara Phethong who alleged the committee was given an order by the military regime to weaken political parties by making them smaller.

One of the methods said to achieve this was to require current members of political parties to re-register.

CDC member Norachit Sinhaseni said small political parties had made a number of suggestions on the issue.

These included amending regulations to make it easier for members to transfer between parties.

Under current rules, members are required to formally quit before they can enrol in new parties. The small parties suggested that members should be allowed to apply for membership at new parties before they quit.

Mr Watchara dismissed Mr Norachit’s remark about the small parties’ suggestion, saying it was used to cover the committee’s true agenda.

He said the CDC had been ordered to write up a draft bill on political parties in a fashion that “those in power” wanted. According to Mr Watchara, public forums organised to gather input were procedural to justify the committee’s work.

“Now you have the power, you do what you want. But when the people’s representatives rise to power, they will review it. If we object to their ‘set zero’ they call us selfish,” Mr Watchara said.

Mr Udom said the committee would meet on Tuesday to discuss if or how its public forums to collect opinions about the organic laws should be revised or rescheduled.

He said Chartchai Na Chiangmai, who is responsible for the committee’s public relations work, was working on the matter and would report back to the CDC for consideration.