By Thai Newsroom Reporters
ABOUT 66,000 PEOPLE have so far endorsed a refreshed move to end the constitutional power of the unelected senators to pick a prime minister following the next general election.
Former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn who is currently spearheading the massive move in the name of a Campaign For Constitutional Amendment confirmed today (Feb. 1) that a relevant petition will be submitted to the House of Representatives in bid to keep the senators from any longer taking part in the making of a prime minister after the number of people endorsing it reaches 70,000. The former election commissioner said the targeted number would very likely be secured sooner or later this month.
Somchai and other members of the Campaign For Constitutional Amendment visited Move Forward Party’s headquarters today to solicit support for the massive call for amendment to the constitution’s Section 272 to the extent that the senators be no longer legally empowered to join ranks with elected MPs to vote for head of a post-election government as had been the case of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha following the 2019 general election.
Palang Pracharath Party successfully named Prayut as head of a multiple-party coalition government with solid support from all 250 senators whom a post-coup military junta headed by the army chief-turned-premier had handpicked.
The former election commissioner strongly maintained that only the people-elected MPs be constitutionally empowered to pick a post-election premier and such a decisive role be of no business of the unelected senators as far as democratic rule is concerned.
Campaign For Popular Democracy secretary-general Metha Matkhao who has joined the campaign said the massive petition for such constitutional amendment would remain as a suspended legislation if Prayut eventually dissolved the House before it is scheduled for deliberation by the current lawmakers.
The activist group has been visiting all parties taking charge of current MPs to solicit their support for the repeated democratic cause, which had been earlier aborted at parliament by the Prayut regime.
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Top: The Parliament meeting chamber with an image of the Democracy Monument overlaid. Photo: Matichon
Home Page: Somchai Srisutthiyakorn with an image of the Democracy Monument, Photo: Matichon Weekly
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