People’s Party puts charter change on ethics on back burner for now

The opposition People’s Party believes that charter amendments are necessary to end the Constitutional Court’s “monopoly” in making decisions about parties’ code of ethics, but will not pursue this for now.

Party spokesman Parit Wacharasindhu said on Thursday that if his party continues pushing for amendments on ethical standards, then other political parties may cite this as an excuse to not support other charter amendments put forward by the party.

He said the plan to amend the charter to end the Constitutional Court’s “monopoly” is among the seven charter-amendment packages planned by the party.

However, he said, the plan to amend the article on the code of ethics has been put on the back burner after Pheu Thai announced on Thursday that it would not seek to amend the charter on this point.

Parties on both sides of the House announced they were backing down after some critics said such amendments could be seen as a conflict of interest, especially since MPs will vote for the amendment to suit their own purposes.

As for the People’s Party’s initial plan, Parit said the party wanted to set the scope of power wielded by the Constitutional Court and other independent organisations and used unfairly against parties they don’t like.

Parit said his party believes that each political organ, like the House or Senate, should have its own regulations to check and govern the ethical standards of its members to end the Constitutional Court’s monopoly.

This, he said, will make political parties more responsible towards voters, instead of just fearing independent organisations.

Parit pointed out that the fear of the Constitutional Court prevented Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from appointing certain people to her Cabinet, even though they had served as ministers in the Prayut Chan-o-cha regime.

He said the People’s Party will push for six other charter amendment packages as it fears that an entirely new charter will not be ready by the time the next general election rolls around.

The six charter amendment packages are:

• Amendments to undo the fallout of the 2014 coup led by General Prayut, including annulling the so-called 20-year national strategy and development plans of the junta-led National Council for Peace and Order, as well as annulling Article 279 which made all orders of the council constitutional.
• Amendments to add more anti-corruption mechanisms to prevent collusion between the government and the NCPO. They will also empower voters, at least 20,000, to demand that the National Anti-Corruption Commission conduct graft probes urgently within 180 days.
• Amendments to enhance civil rights and liberty. The public should be guaranteed the right to free 15 years of basic education, enhanced community rights and enhanced sexual rights and protection.
• Amendments to reform the armed forces by ending forced conscription. The amendments will also restrict the scope of martial court proceedings. 
• Amendments to improve the efficiency of Parliament. The amendments would seek to increase the authority of parliamentary committees to issue summons for documents and witnesses. They will also require that House speakers and their deputies come from opposition parties.
• Amendments on regulations for charter amendments. The People’s Party is pushing for charter amendments to go through with a vote from just two-thirds of the House, instead of also requiring approval from a third of the Senate. A referendum should only be required when the amendments end up changing rules and regulations or when a new charter is to be drafted.