Thai democracy would regress "even further" if non-elected premiers were allowed, the Thai Rak Thai Party said.

How to select a national leader is one of the contentious issues being considered as the drafting of a new constitution is set to start.

Pongthep Thepkanchana, a Thai Rak Thai legal expert, said the head of a government must be an elected member of Parliament.

"It has something to do with people's well being. Aspirants for the post have to campaign and it makes them close to people. So, an elected premier will be different from an appointed one," he said.

Pongthep claimed that if the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) wrote a new charter that allowed the prime minister to be either elected or appointed, Thai democracy would go backwards.

He said the election of MPs under a party-list system of proportional representation should also be maintained because that was the real voice of the people. The election would give opportunities to knowledgeable people who were not "constituency experts" to serve the country.

Pongthep also suggested the CDA lower the minimum percentage of votes required for a political party to get seats from the party-list election. The 1997 constitution, shelved after the coup in September, required a political party to win at least 5 per cent of the total votes cast in order to get any seats. Pongthep said 5 per cent was "too high".

Thai Rak Thai also supported the rule in the previous charter that requires MP candidates to be members of a political party for at least 90 days before an election. He said the "90-day rule" aimed to prevent candidates from hopping to other parties.

Asked if senators should be elected or not, Pongthep said that as long as Thailand had a democratic system, an election was best.

However, he disagreed that mergers of political parties should be banned, arguing that it was severely limiting for some parties that may need to join larger ones.

"If the constitution bans party mergers, some parties will have to be dissolved," he said. But he agreed there should be a time limit for party mergers.

The Thai Rak Thai lawyer called on the CDA to address problematic provisions in the 1997 constitution. These include loopholes in the checks and balances system of independent organisations and Parliament.

Democrat Party spokesman Ong-art Klampaiboon said his party agreed that prime ministers must undertake elections. However, the Democrats had not reached an accord on whether party-list MPs should be excluded under a new constitution. "The party members are split about this issue, but we will have a conclusion on it soon," he said.

Ong-art said the party was also undecided on whether senators should be elected or appointed.

The Democrat spokesman said the 90-day rule should cover only former MPs to make the political-party system strong.

Ong-art also agreed that party mergers should be banned, although the rule should apply after an election is completed.

Chat Thai Party deputy leader Weerasak Khowsurat agreed with the Democrats, saying political parties should be allowed to merge - but they should do it before an election.

And prime ministers must be elected. "Election must be the first option. If the writers pave the way for the sanctioning of a non-elected premier, I'm afraid someone will turn to the point, instead of considering an elected PM," he said.

Party-list MPs should be maintained, along with the 90-day rule. However, he said, the 90-day rule to prevent party-hopping should apply only when the government completes its four-year term.

"In that case, candidates have enough time before the registration date for an election. Yet the rule should be omitted if the House of Representatives is dissolved prematurely," Weerasak said.

To ensure fairness, competi-tors of the ruling party should

have at least 30 days before an election if the House is dissolved, he said.

Weerasak also expressed support for a proposal that senators should be appointed rather than elected.

Sucheera Pinijparakarn

The Nation