The Senate has resolved to amend the draft referendum bill to use two levels of voting to amend the constitution, in contrast to the MP draft which used a majority vote. The minority committee is concerned that the entire constitution will not be amended in time for this parliament and the referendum will not be held in time for the provincial administrative organization elections, resulting in a significant increase in budget votes.
Today’s Senate meeting was chaired by Mr. Mongkol Surassajja, President of the Senate. He considered the draft of the Referendum Act, which the committee had already considered. The issue that was widely discussed was Section 13, which amends the draft law from the House of Representatives in the part related to the criteria for the referendum, which will be considered a conclusion in Section 13. Originally, it required a majority vote of those who came to vote, with the majority vote being higher than the number of abstentions on the matter being considered for the referendum.
However, the committee amended it to say that the organization of the referendum related to the constitution must have more than half of the eligible voters come out to vote and more than half of the voters come out to vote on the matter being considered for the referendum, or a double majority.
Ms. Nantana Nantvaropa, Senator and a minority member of the committee, debated and objected to the resolution of the majority committee, stating that throughout the first four meetings of the committee, the majority committee clearly discussed the advantages and benefits of a single-tier voting approach. However, in the fifth meeting, the meeting was proposed to reconsider the resolution in the fourth meeting. Miraculously, the Senators agreed to amend Section 13, which requires a two-tier majority vote for a referendum on the constitution, i.e., more than half of the eligible voters must exercise their rights. It is also noted that on Tuesday, September 24, a politician was interviewed and disagreed with the amendm
ent of the constitution. Was this the reason for the reversal of the resolution? A 17-1 vote reversal of the resolution is not beautiful. People will gossip that the vote was made according to orders.
Ms. Nantana Therefore, as a minority member of the committee, I would like to protect the right to debate for the senators and the public to know that
all types of elections in Thailand use a single majority vote. Why don’t we use the same standard as all types of general elections? The referendums on the two constitutions in 2007 and 2016 used a single vote and passed normally. There is no need to change any rules. Almost a hundred countries in the world use a single vote for referendums. And holding a referendum should be easy, accessible to the public, and not complicated. There is no need to mobilize the entire country to use a single majority vote for every referendum. Therefore, I would like a referendum to be a normal thing that everyone can access, just like all types of elections, and we will be able
to find a conclusion to many conflicts about what the majority of the people want without having to go to the streets. And holding a referendum with a two-tier majority vote will make people who don’t come out to exercise their rights have more power than those who do. If people don’t want the referendum to pass, they just don’t come out of their homes, which is easy. This makes people not come out and the referendum will not succeed.
Ms. Nantana also said that if the Senate does not agree with the House of Representatives’ draft, it will be considered a delay and in the end, we will not be able to hold a referendum, along with the election of the Provincial Administrative Organizations. This will cause us to spend many times more on the budget, several billion baht, in making a single resolution. The Senators will be the defendants of society for wasting time and budget. Therefore, I would like to call on the Senators to show their courage in making decisions based on their own judgment without fearing any
influence. Make decisions based on the interests of the people. Do not act like Senators with short memories. On August 27, this House voted to accept this bill in one reading with an overwhelming 179 votes. I hope you still remember.
‘A problematic constitution leads to unstable politics. A politics without deterioration leads to a failed economy. Amending the constitution is the answer to solving economic problems. Let’s help unlock the referendum act to be the first step to build the road to democracy,’ said Ms. Nantana.
Mr. Krit Eawong, a minority member of the committee, discussed that he did not agree with the amendment of the committee and agreed to return to the draft of the House of Representatives, which used the majority vote criterion, which required more votes, abstentions, and a two-tier referendum is often used in countries with multiple states. In the past, Thailand used a single-tier vote without any problems. In addition, the 2017 constitution used a single-tier referendum. Therefore, a si
ngle-tier vote should be used, similar to the origin of the 2017 constitution. The previous draft constitution vote used a single-tier referendum, using the same criteria, a simple majority vote. If we compare the example, the budget used for each referendum, which is more than 3 billion, will be wasted.
Mr. Nikorn Chamnong, a minority member of the committee, disagreed with the amendment to use a double majority in the vote because it is considered the most important amendment. If we look at the time frame, it will definitely not be able to amend the constitution in time for this parliament. He also wanted to ask who will be responsible, even though the amendment of the constitution is a policy of the previous government and this government. Therefore, he would like to present his opinion to the meeting that at this time, even if we vote according to the amendment, in the end, it will go back to the House of Representatives. If we do not agree, we will have to go back to the joint committee of the two house
s. At that point, we will have to find a joint solution between the two houses. The issue is not with any political party, but with whether we will have a constitution that belongs to the people in our era.
Senator Phisit Apiwattanapong debated and confirmed that there was no stalling, but he came to perform his duty as a Thai to protect the interests of the country and the people only. In the vote to accept the draft constitution, if we look at the number of votes in favor, even if a two-tier referendum is used, it will still pass because more than half of the people voted and more than half approved it. However, what he saw in the news was that the issue of politicians’ ethics was being revised. He wanted to ask if he thought it was correct or not, and what does it have to do with the people?
After a wide debate, the meeting resolved to approve the committee’s amendments by a vote of 160 to 21, with 9 abstentions, reverting to a two-tiered voting system, which is an amendment to the House of Representativ
es’ draft. The meeting then resolved to approve the amended referendum bill by a vote of 163 to 19, with 7 abstentions and 2 no votes. If such an amendment is made, it must be sent back to the House of Representatives for consideration and a joint committee of the two houses must be set up to find a conclusion.
Source: Thai News Agency