Bills panel to wrap up work this month

The tripartite panel scrutinising the two crucial organic bills on the election of MPs and selection of senators will finish its work by the end of the month before the bills are returned to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) for a vote.

However, if either or both of the bills are rejected by the NLA, assembly members will have to accept responsibility for their actions, NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said. A rejection could cause a lengthy delay in holding the next poll now set for around February next year. Drafting a new organic bill will be timeconsuming, experts say.

Last week, Democrat Party deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat said if a new organic bill must be drafted, the election roadmap would be halted for the long haul as lawmakers may attempt to amend the charter to accommodate new organic bills which will be written later. In that case, a new constitution will trigger a new referendum, a process which would take up to two years, according to Mr Nipit.

The prospect of a rejection, however, has been downplayed by both Mr Pornpetch and Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan. The NLA meeting yesterday agreed to set up two joint panels, each in charge of ironing out differences in the bills.

The joint panels, represented by the NLA, the CDC and the Election Commission (EC), are up and running to examine the contents of the bills which have been altered and passed by the NLA.

The CDC and the EC will decide if they have found the alterations acceptable or constitutionally valid.

Concerns were voiced in some political quarters that either or both bills could be doomed. Each joint panel is made up of five members from the NLA, five from the CDC and one from the EC.

Critics said all eyes are on the CDC representatives whose opinions will decide the fate of the bills. If they insist on changing the NLA-altered content back to the original version written by the CDC, the NLA lawmakers might be less than pleased.

The panels have until the end of month to thrash out the differences in the bills. On March 1, the bills will go back to the NLA which will vote whether keep or drop the bills after they have been vetted by the joint panels.

Lawmakers unhappy with the vetting might opt to reject the bills, according to the critics. A vote of at least 166 of the 248 NLA members is needed to shoot down either bill.

Meanwhile, Mr Pornpetch said lawmakers had no reason to reject the bills containing contentious issues which could not be resolved in the joint panels.

He added 166 votes would be hard to muster and it would have been easier to sink the bills when the NLA deliberated.

Mr Pornpetch said a difference in opinions between the NLA, the CDC and the EC was natural.

“We’re not enemies going to war,” he said. He added if the two bills ended up being dropped, the NLA would have to take responsibility.

Also, Mr Meechai said yesterday it was too early to speculate on what would become of the bills. “Don’t jump to conclusions or over-react,” he said.