 December 2014 : Constitutional Drafting Resolved on 4 Issues
Constitution drafting resolved on 4 issues In December, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) resolved on 4 major issues; the electoral system, the Senate, the prime minister and the independent agencies. The Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) that allows small parties and independent candidates to run in the polls would be used for the new electoral system. There would be two types of MPs - 200 from proportional party list and 250 from constituencies. The party-list MPs would be elected by voters in eight geographical clusters throughout the nation and the constituency MPs would be the only one winner from each constituency; each comprised of 250,000 voters. Constituency candidates do not have to be members of any political parties but they have to represent a political group or association. The number of parliamentary seats allocated to a party was relative to the percentage of accumulated nationwide votes in all eight clusters for that party. If a party receives 10 per cent of votes in the entire country, the proportional calculation would allocate the party a total of 45 seats in the House of Representatives. If the party won 40 seats in the constituencies, it would get an additional 5 seats for the party list. If the party won 45 seats or more, it would not get any more MPs from the party list. However, there could be a situation when parties could win seats from constituencies beyond their proportion and the total number of MPs could exceed 450. In that case, the additional winners would be allowed to sit in on condition that the additional seats would not exceed than 30. The MMP system is similar to the German style that every single vote will be taken into account, as the number of seats allocated to political parties in Parliament is commensurate with the proportion of votes each party receives nationwide. The system claims its number of votes is better reflected in the House. Since the government isn’t too strong; the legislative and the public should be able to perform checks and balance of power. With the new electoral system, there would be no single party winning a huge majority in the lower house and the government would be formed by a coalition of few parties. The Senate members would be limited at 200 and they must be non-partisan. They would be selected from five sources: former prime ministers and former House speakers; former senior officials such as former commanders of the three armed forces and former permanent secretaries; former presidents of professional organizations such as presidents of the Board of Trade and Federation of Thai Industries; people’s sector such as labor unions and civic organizations; and professional groups. They will retain the powers to propose bills to the parliament but they will be bestowed with more powers to check the backgrounds of those who are to be appointed cabinet ministers and all department heads and also empowered to impeach the prime minister, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and senior government officials but the impeachment must require one-half of the votes of the two Houses. The prime minister need not be an MP but must be nominated by MPs and submit for royal approval by the House speaker. His term is 4 years and could be in position not more than 2 succeeding terms. The House dissolution would be empowered to the prime minister. The Election Commission will have 5 commissioners to supervise the election. They would be empowered to call for new election but cannot purge the election’s right since it must be done by the court’s verdict as stated in the organic law. The National Anti-Corruption Commission will comprise of 9 members. They are not authorized to file direct complaints to the Supreme Court Criminal Division for Political Holders as it is the authority of the Attorney-General. However, if the AG does not react within a given period, the NACC could file a complaint and the case will be revalidated. In case of the accused fled, the validation period would be temporary terminated until the accused return to be presented in court. More regulations on alcohol ban approved On 24th December, the Committee for National Alcohol Beverage Control approved several draft regulations on the selling and consumption of alcohol as follow:
180 MB Klong Dan interest fee waived On 24th December, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) disclosed the Vichitpan Construction Co., Ltd. and its joint venture (NVPSKG) has waived an interest of Baht 180 million, accumulated from Baht 2 million per day since the Supreme Administrative Court ruling was made on 21st November. PCD was subjected to pay it within 90 days. However, no conclusion was reached on the Baht 9,618 million compensation whether it would be postponed or repay in installments. The loss from the Klong Dan Wastewater treatment project in Samutprakarn Province could total Baht 30,641 million since PCD had already paid some of its construction cost, Baht 21,023 million. Currently, there are several cases between PCD and NVPSKG in both criminal and civil courts. On 21st November, the Supreme Administrative Court affirmed the First Court’s verdict that the Pollution Control Department (PCD) must pay compensation, of total Baht 9,618 million and a 7.5% interest fee. 2014 economic target growth reduced The Bank of Thailand (BOT) announced economic growth in 2014 and 2015 could be lower than targeted and readjusted the 2014 and 2015 growth rates from 1.5% to 0.8% and 4.8% to 4% respectively. National export previously targeted at 1.5% in 2014 was also readjusted to minus 0.5% and from 4% to 1% in 2015. On the contrary, import growth increased from minus 6.8% to 7.5% and was expected to grow at 4% in 2015. Inbound tourism declined 5% The Tourism Authority of Thailand disclosed that international tourist declined at 5% in 2014 due to domestic political crisis and economic stagnation in prime markets; Russia, Japan and Europe. Income from inbound tourism was estimated at Baht 1.15 trillion while domestic tourism has reached its target of Baht 700 billion. TAT anticipated income inbound tourism would grow 16% in 2015, to Baht 1.35 trillion and 14% to Baht 800 billion for domestic tourism. GDP in Q 3-4 increased On 25th December, Deputy Prime Minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula said economy in the 4th Quarter continued to improve and anticipated a growth of 3%. This was from 3 reasons;
However, the economic stagnation made an average GDP to grow at 1% but anticipated to rise to 4.5% in the next year due to state investment on infrastructure projects. State officials got pay rise On 9th December, the cabinet resolved to increase payment of all state officials; civil servants, militaries, police force, educationists etc. so they will get approximately 10% more to their actual monthly salaries. Approximately 1.98 million officials will receive their new pay rises that would be retro-effective on 1st December. Tax measures to help the poor and SMEs On 9th December, the cabinet resolved on 4 tax measures to help the poverties and those in SME sector as follow:
From : http://www.fpps.or.th |