MPs bill at risk of court validity check

Prayut can request ruling within 5 days

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has the power to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the validity of two points in the organic bill on the election of MPs despite the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) deeming the legislation flawless, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.

Mr Wissanu said the NLA should have forwarded the organic bill on MPs to the Constitutional Court along with the organic bill on the selection of senators yesterday.

After the NLA finished reviewing the two bills and approved them, the assembly decided to seek the validity check with the court only on the senators bill, not the MPs one.

NLA president NLA president Pornpetch Witchitcholchai insisted yesterday the MPs bill contains no flaws despite government worries. The two points of interest are: the loss of rights of individuals who fail to vote at a general election being appointed to public office; and disabled voters being allowed to bring someone to a polling station to help them cast their ballots.

Mr Pornpetch said the NLA found the two points did not contradict the charter.

In the loss of rights to take public office, he explained the issue only affects a small number of people and it is within reason to impose such a restriction.

As for disabled voters, the NLA president said they deserved to have someone help them at polling booths. The assistance enables the voters to physically fulfill their right to vote. Only the assistant would be aware of who the disabled voter they accompany votes for, he added.

The NLA is confident the two points in the MPs bill had no constitutional problems, which is why it decided by a majority vote to not send the bill for interpretation by the charter court.

The NLA submitted the MPs bill to the prime minister yesterday, the same day it filed the senators bill to the Constitutional Court for the validity check.

Mr Pornpetch said that even if the MPs bill is to be checked by the Constitutional Court after the legislation is enacted into law and the court rules the loss of rights to be legally invalid, the ruling will not necessitate amending the law. Therefore, the election road map will stay on course.

However, there might be some problems from a validity check on the disabled voters’ assistant issue if the check is performed after the election and the court finds it unconstitutional. It would require a vote recount which is a tedious and possibly legally challenging process, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Wissanu maintained both the MPs and senators organic bills need careful consideration and they should have been put up for Constitutional Court vetting.

The court vetting would not exceed three months, as feared by some lawmakers, and disrupt the election roadmap if the MPs bill were to be looked at by the court. The general election is to be held by February next year, according to the roadmap.

He said he was unaware of the NLA whip’s suggestion that political parties sign a pact agreeing to the poll being delayed by another three months from February if the MPs bill was to be vetted by the Constitutional Court.

However, despite the NLA standing firm on not sending the MPs bill for the validity ruling, the prime minister, who was handed the bill by the NLA yesterday, is authorised to seek the check with the Constitutional Court within the next five days. If Gen Prayut decides not to bring the bill to the court’s attention, the legislation will be presented to His Majesty for endorsement in the final step before enactment.

The government can also request the check before the bill reaches the palace.

Mr Wissanu said that once the MPs bill is passed into law, it cannot be amended unless a constitutionality dispute emerges which justifies a validity check request.