The Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) yesterday made it much easier for the future opposition to move no-confidence motions against the government.

The CDA will also allow only 10,000 voters to sponsor a bill and 20,000 voters to seek an impeachment against a political office holder.

During the second reading of the draft constitution, the CDA amended Articles 154 and 155 to make it easier for opposition MPs to submit no-confidence motions against the prime minister and Cabinet members respectively.

The CDA also endorsed Article 156 as proposed by the Constitution Drafting Comm-ittee (CDC) to allow half of opposition MPs to censure the government if their number fails to meet the minimum requirement for submitting censure motions. But the article would require the MPs to wait for the government to be in office for at least two years.

Initially, the CDC stated in Article 154 that one-quarter of MPs were required to sponsor a censure motion against the prime minister and in Article 155 that one-fifth of MPs were needed to submit a no-confidence motion against a Cabinet member.

During the debate yesterday, several CDA members expressed concern that the CDC version would make it hard for the opposition to perform their duty of checks and balances.

Following the debate, CDC secretary Somkid Lertpaitoon said the panel had agreed to amend the draft to make it easier for opposition MPs to censure the government.

It was agreed to amend Article 154 to lower the requirement from one-quarter to one-fifth of MPs and amend Article 155 to lower the requirement from one-fifth to one-sixth.

The 1997 Constitution required at least two-fifths of MPs to sponsor a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and one-fifth against a Cabinet member.

The CDA also endorsed a change to Article 157 to allow one-third of senators to sponsor a motion to hold a general debate for the government to answer questions regarding its administration. The initial version of the CDC required three-fifths of senators to sponsor such a motion.

Initially, the drafting panel stated in Article 159 that 20,000 voters could sponsor a bill but during the debate the CDA agreed to reduce the requirement to 10,000 to make it easier for the public to participate in politics.

The 1997 charter required 50,000 voters to sponsor a bill. Only one bill, on community forests, was subsequently sponsored by voters.

The CDA also endorsed the drafting panel's proposal to require at least 20,000 voters to sponsor a motion to seek an impeachment against a political office holder.

In another development yesterday, the People's Assembly for Political Reform expressed support for holding the general election on November 25.

Somsak Kosaisuk, a leading member, said that the assembly was opposed to the appointment of senators and multi-seat constituencies for MPs under the draft charter, and called on the Council for National Security to revive

the 1997 charter if the new constitution is rejected in the public referendum.

Nerisa Nerykhiew

The Nation