Bangkok, The resolution of the ‘New Generation Senators’ is to send ‘Nantana’ to compete for the Senate President position, while ‘Lae-Angkana’ will compete for the Vice President position.
Mr. Prabhas Pintabtaeng, a civil society senator, revealed that in the Senate meeting on Tuesday, July 23, to elect the Senate president and two vice presidents, the new generation of senators has already made it clear that they will propose Ms. Nantana Nantawaropas as the Senate president and the first vice president of the Senate, Mr. Lae Dilokwittayarat and Ms. Angkana Neelapaijit as the second vice presidents of the Senate. If it follows the meeting regulations, each person will have to present their vision. It is believed that Ms. Nantana will present a positive vision of what the qualifications of a person to be the Senate president should be. Whether she will be successful or not depends on what the senators think after listening to the vision presentations of the three people. However, it is believed that there w
ill be a compromise with the blue group of senators. Therefore, the meeting on July 23 will probably go smoothly without any problems and a vote will be made.
‘I am more interested in the position of the second vice president of the Senate, how the Blue Line will vote. If they do not give a new type of senator a position, I believe that society and the media will help investigate whether there are people with good qualifications and they do not choose them. Those who raise their hands to support must listen to society’s voices. I think society moves like this. It will not be like that to turn the sky and the earth upside down in one go,’ said Mr. Prapas.
When asked if the division of groups will be an obstacle to the work of the Senate, especially in considering important laws and selecting independent organizations, Mr. Prapas said that it has been like this in the past. Amending the constitution will be difficult because it requires 1/3 of the votes of the Senate, or 67 people. Some sections may agree, an
d may not need to be amended or the entire draft rewritten. However, he thinks that there are many sections that should be agreed upon and amended. It depends on the goal of reforming, and a Constituent Assembly must be set up like the 1997 constitution. We must accept the time. If you ask if it is difficult, it is difficult. In the past, there were 13 drafts. Therefore, he thinks that some sections that are truly problematic will need to be amended, including the past selection of the Senate. There should be a review, but it will not be anytime soon. We have to work first. It may be towards the end of this Senate’s term.
When asked if this was one reason why the Move Forward Party proposed a single parliament, Mr. Prapas said that the Move Forward Party had been talking about this for a long time. It could be proposed, but it could not be amended as before. If there was a single parliament, the constitution would have to be amended. However, the Move Forward Party only had a few votes. The senators were alr
eady controlled, so how could it be amended? However, there were some good things in both systems. The senators have been like this since after the coup. People have endured it, but there are still comparisons with the previous senators who had a general debate without a vote, and they praised ministers. This time, there might be some, but not all of them. There will be work in the way of inspection. There will be senators who are not blue-shirts, although not many. If they work hard and are solid, like the senators who were elected in 1997, who worked hard and strongly, such as Dr. Niran Pitakwatchara and Mr. John Ungpakorn, even though they have limitations, they have shown results.
‘Therefore, this group of senators is still treading the same path, not in accordance with the intention of those who drafted the constitution, who wanted this type of election system to produce qualified people, representatives of professional groups. It is considered a failure, but not entirely. Therefore, people in society m
ust help monitor, including the media, who are watching and probably can’t do much. It shouldn’t be as bad as shutting the door and beating cats or being in the twilight zone,’ said Mr. Prapas.
While “Senator Noppadol” revealed that no senator has announced his candidacy for the Senate chairman position, apart from “Nantana” who has already announced herself, we will have to wait and see who will compete for this position tomorrow. He admitted that he is interested in running for the Senate chairman position, but he would like to check the votes first.
Mr. Noppadol Inna, a member of the Senate, revealed that at this time, no one has contacted him that he will propose a candidate for the Senate President. He saw from the news that only the New Generation Senators proposed Mrs. Nantana Nantvaropa to run for the Senate President position. He himself thinks that it is a good thing and sees that each person who has been nominated has knowledge and abilities, and there will be more competition, giving the senator
s more options.
As for now, are there other senators, such as Mr. Mongkol Surassajja, who have offered to run for the president and contacted him? Mr. Noppadol said that at the moment, no one has offered to run for the president and vice president of the Senate and no one has contacted him yet. However, it can only be seen from the news, which is the truth because at the moment, no one has offered to run, especially among the members, which is only seen from the news.
Mr. Noppadol also stated that he is currently considering whether to run for the position of Senate President or Vice President because if there are enough members who propose, he is ready to run but he will have to wait and see today and tomorrow again to see how many votes there are. At the moment, he admits that there are some members who support him and some of them will nominate him but he himself has to look at the number of votes as well. However, if there is enough support, he is happy to do so.
‘We have talked to some senators via Li
ne and phone because it is a holiday. Some of them have met before, but there are many who have not met yet because it has only been a few days since the certification. Therefore, there are not many opportunities to meet and talk in person,’ said Mr. Noppadol.
As for tomorrow, we will know who will actually apply for the position of President and Vice President of the Senate. Mr. Noppadol believes that it is possible because tomorrow is the last day. Because applying for an important position, he thinks that it takes a fair amount of time to decide because the vision must be presented and the votes must be checked. In his personal opinion, he thinks that it is like that.
How many people will run for the position of Senate President? Mr. Noppadol expects that there will be about 2-3 people or more, but he himself is not sure. As for the other senators who are running for Senate President, most of the senators have talked to each other, but they have not talked in depth about who they will support or if anyon
e has clearly announced that they will run for Senate President.
Source: Thai News Agency