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THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION OF THAILAND (r)
THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION
9.9.97/THE NATION
CHAPTER SIX: PARLIAMENT
Article 90: Parliament shall consist of the Lower and Upper
houses. The two chambers shall convene together or separately as
provided by law.
Article 91: The speaker of the House of Representatives shall
become the Parliament president and the speaker of the Senate
shall become deputy Parliament president.
In the case where there is no speaker of the House of
Representatives, or the speaker of the Lower House is absent or
unable to carry out his duty, the Senate speaker shall carry out
the duty of the Parliament president.
The Parliament president shall have authority and power as
provided by the Constitution, and he shall ensure that the
conventions between the House of Representatives and the Senate
are conducted in accordance with the regulations.
The Parliament president, and the person who carries out the duty
in lieu of the Parliament president, shall be neutral.
The deputy Parliament president shall have authority and power as
provided by the law or as assigned by the Parliament president.
Article 92: Draft legislations or drafts of constitutional
supplementary laws shall be enacted only after having received
parliamentary approval.
Article 93: Draft legislations or drafts of constitutional
supplementary laws which have been approved by Parliament, shall
be submitted to His Majesty t~ t he King by the prime minister
within 20 days after the prime minister receives the bills from
Parliament.
After receiving His Majesty the King's signature, the draft
legislations or drafts of constitutional supplementary laws shall
be announced in the Royal Gazette before they shall be enacted.
Article 94: Draft legislations or drafts of constitutional
supplementary laws which are not approved and returned to
Parliament by His Majesty the King, or in the case where they are
not returned after 90 days, shall be reviewed by Parliament. If
Parliament remains unchanged over the drafts, with at least
two-thirds of the votes from the two chambers, the prime minister
shall submit the drafts to His Majesty the King again.
If His Majesty the King does not return the drafts within 30
days, the prime minister shall announce the drafts in the Royal
Gazette and the law shall be enacted as though it has already
been signed by His Majesty the King.
Article 95: A person shall not con-currently be a member of the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
Article 96: A minimum number of one-third of either members of
the House of Representatives or the Senate, shall petition their
respective speakers to annul the membership of a certain member
of the House of Representatives or the Senate, as set out by
Article 118 (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (11) or (12), or
Article 133 (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (9) or (10), or as the case
may be.
The speaker of either the House of Representatives or the Senate
shall send the petition to the Constitution Court to determine
whether the membership of the person shall be revoked or not.
When the Constitution Court has a resolution, the court shall
inform the chairmen of the two chambers in accordance with the
first paragraph.
Article 97: The departure of a member of the House of
Representatives or the Senate after the invalidation of his
membership, or after it is revoked by the Constitution Court,
shall not affect his affairs he hitherto did while being
a~member; or it shall not affect his salary or any rewards he
received before his membership is terminated or before his
membership is nullified by the Constitution Court, or as the case
may be, except in the case that his status is terminated on the
grounds that he violated electoral laws.
PART TWO: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Article 98: The House of Representatives shall comprise 500 MPs.
Of these, 100 members are selected by means of a party-list
election as provided by Article 99, and the remaining 400 by
direct election as provided by Article 102.
In the case where there is a vacancy for an MP and no election is
held to elect a new MP to fill the vacant position, the House of
Representatives shall carry out its usual duty with the remaining
number of members.
Article 99: In a party-list election, eligible voters shall vote
for candidates in a list which is compiled by a political party.
However, voters shall chose to vote for candidates from only one
party-list and the whole country is considered as one
constituency.
Each political party shall compile only one "party list" of
candidates, in accordance to the first paragraph, and the number
of candidates in each party list shall not exceed 100. The lists
shall be submitted to the election commission before the day it
opens for the registration of candidates in the direct election
system.
The list of candidates in the party list election in accordance
with the first paragraph shall:
(1) Equally comprise candidates from all parts of the country.
(2) Not comprise those on another party list compiled by a
different political party and shall not comprise can didates
in the direct election.
(3) Be compiled in a numerical order. Article 100: Political
parties earning fewer than five per cent of the total votes'
cast for the country shall not be entitled to party-list
candidates, and it is forbidden to use the vote count in the
calculation of the proportional number of members of the House
of Representatives in accordance with the second paragraph.
The calculation method used to determine which candidates from
which political party is elected in a party-list election shall
be in accordance with regulations, means and conditions as
provided by the electoral law. The names of successful candidates
shall be filed in numerical number.
Article 101: Under Article 119 (1), in the case where the
membership of a certain MP from the party-list election is
terminated during the duration of Parliament, the remaining
number of MPs shall carry out the duty as usual.
Article 102: Eligible voters in the direct election shall vote
for only one candidate in one constituency.
The number of constituencies is determined by calculating the
country's total population by means of the household registers
announced in the year preceding the general election and dividing
that number by the total number of directly-elected MPs in the
House, 400, to arrive at the average constituency size. With the
average constituency size determined, the provinces are then
broken down into constituencies based on their individual
population.
Provinces with a population smaller than the average constituency
size shall elect one MP. Provinces exceeding the average are
broken down into constituencies and elect one MP per
constituency.
If the number of MPs still does not reach 400, any spillover
population in a province that is less than the average
constituency size entitles that province to an extra MP.
Article 103: Any province which can elect only one MP shall be
considered as one constituency. Any province which can have more
than one MP? shall be broken down into constituencies accordingly
to the number of MPs, but each constituency shall have only one
MP.
Provinces which have more than one constituency shall arrange the
size of the population so it is as equal as possible with the
adjoining constituency.
Article 104: In a general election, each eligible voter can vote
for only one candidate in the party-list election and only one
candidate in the direct election.
In a snap [direct] election as stipulated in Article 119 (2),
eligible voters can vote for only one candidate in one
constituency.
Voters can cast their ballot directly or cast secret ballots.
In each constituency, vote counts and election results are
announced openly at a certain poll as determined by the electoral
commission, except when local circumstances dictate otherwise.
The electoral commission is given sole power to determine such
cases, as provided by electoral law.
Vote counts and election results in the party-list election may
be conducted in accordance with the fourth paragraph in this
article.
Article 105: Eligible voters must fit the following criteria:
(1) Be of Thai nationality. A naturalised Thai must have
obtained nationality five years before the election.
(2) Be 18 years of age or older on January of the year preceding
the election.
(3) Be included on a household registration in the
constituency for a minimum of 90 days before the election.
Eligible voters who live outside the constituency, as stipulated
in Article 103, where their names are registered, or are not
included on the household registration in the constituency for
more than 90 days, or are settled outside the kingdom, shall have
the right to vote in accordance to regulations, means and
conditions as provided by the electoral law.
Article 106: Individuals who fit any of the following criteria do
not have the right to vote:
(1) Are mentally ill or disabled.
(2) Are a monk, novice, priest or acetic.
(3) Are under detention by court arraignment, or any legal
order.
(4) Have had the right to vote suspended.
Article 107: Individuals who fit the following criteria have the
right to file as an election candidate:
(1) Are of Thai nationality by birth.
(2) Are of 25 years of age or older on the date of which the
election is held.
(3) Have a bachelors degree or equivalent, except when the
individual used to be a member of the Upper or Lower houses.
(4) Have been a member of only one l political party for at least
90 days before the date of which the election is held.
(5) Candidates in a direct election shall also suit one of these
criteria:
* Have been included on the household registration in the
province where an election is to be held for at least one year
before the election day.
* Used to be an MP for the province where the election is held or
used to be a member of the local assembly or the local
administration office.
* Born in the province where the election is held.
* Studied' for at least two years in a school in the province
where the election is held.
* Served in a government office where the election is held for at
least two years.
Article 108: Under the direct election, political parties shall
send only one candidate for each constituency.
Article 109: Individuals who fit any of the following criteria
shall be forbidden from filing as an election candidate:
(1) Is addicted to drugs.
(2) Declared bankrupt and the case is still in court.
(3) Has been forbidden to exercise their right to vote as
stipulated in Article 106. (4) Was sentenced for imprisonment and
being detained by court arraignment.
(5) Was sentenced to more than two years imprisonment and was
released less than five years before the election day, except in
a case in which the offence, was caused by an act of negligence.
(6) Was dismissed or removed from government office or a state
enterprise because of corruption, malfeasance or irregularities.
(7) Was sentenced or ordered by a court to have their assets
confiscated because of unusual wealth.
(8) Is a government official with a fixed salary.
(9) Is a member of a local assembly or local administration.
(10) Is a senator.
(11) Is an employee of a government office, state enterprise,
local government administration or any other kind of government
official.
(12) Is a member of the election commission, a parliamentary!
inspector, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, a
member of the Constitution Court, a member of the administrative
court or a member of the Office of the Commission of Counter
Corruption or a national auditor.
(13) Has been suspended from taking; any political post as
stipulated in Article 295.
(14) Was dismissed by the. Senate as stipulated in Article 309
for less than five years from when the senate issued the
resolution to the election day.
(To be continued)