"To assume that the party-list system has been exploited by political parties to pay back their key financial backers with seats is totally wrong," Nikorn Chamnong, a deputy Chat Thai Party leader, said during a meeting with a subcommittee of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC).

Since the national election of 2001, it has been proved that each party put forward its high-quality candidates for the list of 100, including Chat Thai leader Banharn Silapa-archa and senior diplomat Kobsak Chutikul, he said.

"It is no use preventing big spenders from getting into the House through the party-list system," said Likhit Dhiravegin, leader of the Thai Ground Force Party. "They will manage to get there as constituency MPs if they want."

The CDC panel, chaired by Charan Phakdithanakul, has supported the abolition, saying party-list MPs are detached from any constituency and used as rewards by big-party founders and financial backers.

Pongthep Thepkanchana, deputy leader of the Thai Rak Thai Party, said that as a drafter of the 1997 constitution, he believed the new charter should keep party-list MPs.

It provides a channel for experts in various fields, who are not good at campaigning in constituencies [which is based on personality and patron-client relations with voters], to enter politics and produce benefits for the country, he said.

Akaphol Sorrasuchart, deputy Mahachon Party leader, said the defunct 1997 charter had offered a good opportunity for those who were qualified and competent but would have no chance to enter the House if they ran in a constituency.

He suggested that the charter reduce the percentage of the overall nationwide vote which a party has to obtain to qualify for party-list seats.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation