PM’s adviser voted head of charter panel
Democrat defector Pirapan set for role
Pirapan Salirathavibhaga has been voted chairman of the House committee studying constitutional amendments.
The prime minister’s new adviser beat Pokin Palakul, the candidate of the seven-party opposition, in a 25-19 vote.
The 49-member committee met for the first time yesterday and is tasked with studying how best to amend the current charter, which the opposition and the coalition Democrat Party have slammed as undemocratic.
Mr Pirapan, a former Democrat leadership candidate, resigned from the party this month. Days later, he joined the ruling Palang Pracharath Party and was named adviser to the premier.
Mr Pokin said after the meeting that the opposition committee members would push to replace the chapter on constitutional amendment with one requiring the setup of a constitution drafting council to rewrite the charter.
“I believe the committee’s members from the government, the government itself, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, as well as senators, will agree to it in the best interest of the country,” he said.
He added that the rewriting would take eight months for Chapter 1 on General Provisions while Chapter 2 on the King would be left untouched.
Udom Rathamarit, who co-wrote the 2017 charter, said he agreed to join the House committee so he could explain its intentions to the members.
“To amend it, the [2017] charter requires approval from the Senate and then a referendum will be held to ask people’s consent before bysection amendments can be made or the constitution drafting can be set up,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases yesterday threw out a petition lodged by Future Forward Party (FFP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit against all seven members of the Election Commission (EC) for forwarding the V-Luck Media shareholding case to the Constitutional Court.
The court reasoned the seven commissioners had the authority to forward the case.
It was within the EC’s discretion to present the case to the Constitutional Court as it saw fit, provided it finished the investigation within the deadline stipulated by the law, the court said.
Also, the Criminal Court noted the complaints contained in the petition against the commissioners were similar to those the FFP submitted in its defence to the Constitutional Court which has already passed a ruling in the case.
Yesterday, Natcha Boonchaiinsawat, the FFP deputy spokesman, said the party will look closely at the court’s reasons for dropping the petition.
The FFP earlier accused the EC of failure to exercise its power to investigate the alleged media shareholding case thoroughly.
The Constitutional Court earlier suspended Mr Thanathorn as an MP before proceeding to rule last month to strip him of his MP status.
The EC has denied that there was any political agenda behind the move.