House dissolution decision should wait till next month: deputy PM

He was responding to questions from reporters about whether he, in his capacity as the Cabinet’s legal expert, had discussed House dissolution with Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

“I’ve not talked about it,” Wissanu replied. “The issue should wait until after the general debate,” he added, referring to the two-day showdown between the opposition and the government on Wednesday and Thursday.

“I think the right time [for talking about House dissolution] is after February 28. We must wait for the EC to finish drawing the boundaries of election constituencies.”

The House of Representatives term is scheduled to end on March 22, four years after the last general election.

The EC has announced that the election will be held on May 7 if the House completes its term. It will reschedule the election date if the House is dissolved first.

The EC has not updated the government about its progress in drawing the boundaries of constituencies, Wissanu said.

He said, however, that he heard reports that the EC has asked the Constitutional Court to interpret the term “citizen”, following disputes on whether stateless residents of Thailand should be counted in the formula for distributing 400 House seats in 77 provinces. The formula calls for every MP to represent 164,226 people.

The EC based its decision for distributing House seats on population data provided by the Provincial Administration Department at the end of December, which put Thailand’s population at 66,090,475.

However, critics, including Wissanu and former EC commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, said the figure included stateless people, who – although they are counted in Thailand’s population – have no right to vote.

Wissanu has said that the number of House seats allocated to some provinces, especially border provinces where many stateless residents live, will have to be re-calculated if stateless people are excluded from the population.

The EC has assigned its provincial election committees to draw boundaries of constituencies in their provinces to fit the number of seats allocated to each one.

Following mounting criticism, however, the EC met on Monday to discuss whether to count stateless people as part of the population for determining the distribution of House seats. The EC decided at a second meeting on Tuesday to ask the Constitutional Court to interpret the term “citizen”.

Wissanu said on Thursday he expects the court to decide swiftly because it knows how important the issue is. It is possible, however, that the court will dismiss the case on grounds that no problem has occurred yet, he added.

The pending legal decision will not delay the drawing of constituency boundaries, Wissanu said.

The EC can proceed with the process and adjust the boundaries if the court rules that stateless residents of Thailand should not be counted as citizens, he said.

“Thailand has 400 constituencies and 300 will not have to be redrawn. The issue will have an impact but not much of one,” he explained.

Political parties are squabbling much more over the boundaries of constituencies because changes to them could determine who wins them.

Wissanu said on Thursday he expects the court to decide swiftly because it knows how important the issue is. It is possible, however, that the court will dismiss the case on grounds that no problem has occurred yet, he added.

The pending legal decision will not delay the drawing of constituency boundaries, Wissanu said.

The EC can proceed with the process and adjust the boundaries if the court rules that stateless residents of Thailand should not be counted as citizens, he said.

“Thailand has 400 constituencies and 300 will not have to be redrawn. The issue will have an impact but not much of one,” he explained.

Political parties are squabbling much more over the boundaries of constituencies because changes to them could determine who wins them.