Party time may be over
Political parties that fail to field any candidates should not receive any financial support from the Election Commission, constitution drafters proposed yesterday.
The proposal floated by Constitution Drafting Subcommittee chairman Charan Pakdithanakul received both support and opposition.Two Election Commission commissioners backed the move. Sodsri Sattayatham saidthe 1997 constitution made it too easy to set up political parties, allowing just 15 people to register one. As a result, the country ended up with 44 parties, some of which had no intention of operating any political activities. "Some parties have names like a Chinese movie. Anyone could tell they were not interested in running a political party,'' she said. She claimed the founders' only aim was to seek funds from the government, which allocated about Bt500 million annually to all parties. Some parties reported they had 300 branches, "but when the EC checked the whereabouts of one of the branches, it found it was just a shabby hut,'' she said. Those who opposed the proposal said small parties should be given political opportunities otherwise politics will only be for large parties. The nation
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