First, the proposed appointment of senators, in lieu of senatorial elections, has been sharply criticised as being undemocratic. When a batch of 35 charter-drafters, assigned by the CDA to work on the first draft, voted on this aspect, the majority won on the argument that direct senatorial elections did not work here as most candidates were just like those standing for the House. In the last two senatorial elections, many of these candidates, especially those in provincial and rural constituencies, were apparently backed by the same political power base as that of MP candidates, making the senatorial polls redundant and even counter-productive, it was thought.

Some drafters were also worried that "husband-and-wife" chambers would return, as was the case in the last polls, in which several MPs were spouses of elected senators in their respective constituencies.

These drafters, therefore, preferred to create an appointment system for the upper chamber. One of the measures that could mitigate this issue is to devise a mixed system, in which senatorial candidates would be "qualified", or screened systematically, before they could stand for senatorial election. In other words, candidates would be "appointed" before they could be elected. According to the first draft of the 2007 charter, there would be a total of 160 senators, 20 per cent fewer than the previous 200.

Second, the proposed "big-constituency" model for general elections is under fire. Critics said such a model was unfair theoretically since voters would have unequal rights: some would be entitled to elect more MPs than others. They also countered that the previous "one-man-one-vote" method was better in terms of citizens' voting rights, since everyone was entitled to elect only one constituency MP.

Earlier, the "big-constituency" model was said to be one that would make it harder to buy votes. But that is untrue, based on pre-1997 records.

Third, the proposed ratio of constituency and party-list MPs is not widely accepted. According to the first draft of the 2007 charter, there would be 320 constituency MPs and 80 party-list MPs, 20 per cent fewer than the previous 400 and 100. The rationale for a 20-per-cent reduction of the numbers of both constituency and party-list MPs as well as the number of senators is unclear.

Drafter Komson Potikong said he personally advocated the German system, in which citizens' votes for the parties standing in general elections are given the top priority followed by votes for individual MP candidates. Thus the ratio should be 200 party-list MPs plus another 200 constituency MPs.

Based on the German system, the number of a party's MPs in Parliament would be dictated by the number of votes that party earned for their party-list candidates. For instance, if a party won 51 per cent of the party-list votes, the total number of that party's MPs would automatically be 51 per cent of the House. In other words, this would require all political parties to compete more aggressively on platform, rather than on the personalities and promises of individual constituency MP candidates.

Fourth, the proposed creation of a "super-body" comprising 11 senior figures to resolve national crises is not widely supported either. Section 68 of the first draft of the 2007 charter stipulates that the prime minister, the president of Parliament, the president of the Senate, the opposition leader, the presidents of the Constitution Court, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court and the heads of four other independent bodies shall convene if there is a "national crisis".

Fifth, it is likely that the 2007 charter will subtly mention Buddhism as a national faith along with several other significant faiths in this country, such as Islam and Christianity.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

 nop1122@yahoo.com