To increase public participation in government and improve checks and balances the number of signatures required to launch impeachment proceedings against a political office holder should be lowered to 5,000, a member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) said yesterday.

Pichian Amnartworaprasert told a seminar that the 50,000 signatures required by the 1997 Constitution made it too difficult to launch impeachment proceedings.

The number should be reduced to 5,000 to make the process more realistic, he said.

Pichian also called for a screening committee to be established to weed out frivolous or nuisance calls for impeachment.

The next constitution should provide a means for the public to lodge complaints against politicians and top officials suspected of corruption, he said. The previous charter allowed only state agencies to do so on the grounds the public was not an entity that could suffer damage.

"It's funny. Why is the public not a damageable party? Take a look at corruption at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Billions of taxpayers' money built it, so the public, or taxpayer, has suffered damage,'' Pichian said.

If the public were allowed to take politicians to task, fewer would be corrupt, he said.

The seminar "A Constitution that Suits Democratic Society" was held at the October 14 Memorial.

CDA member Komsan Phokong opposed a proposal that the 1997 Constitution be used as a model for the new one, saying it had failed in many areas - particularly in terms of checks and balances.

The 1997 Constitution gave too much power to politicians to solve problems and not enough to the public.

He encouraged charter writers to use the best points of the 1949, 1974 and 1978 documents.

Komsan wondered if the Senate was necessary and asked how independent bodies should be formed.

"If there is still a need to have an upper house, should it have the same powers as before? If the answer is yes, then the country will repeat the same mistakes,'' he said.

Academic Chaiwat Surawichai feared politicians' demands rather than those of the people would shape the next constitution. He noted the loud political voices raised against Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's proposal to cut the number of senators and members of the lower house.