All eyes today will be on the secret votes that will decide 20 controversial issues for the new constitution, especially whether room should be left for a non-elected prime minister.

Drafter Sriracha Charoenpanich expressed confidence yesterday that those supporting the move for a possible non-elected premier were close in number to those against it.

"I still believe victory or defeat will be closely decided," Sriracha wrote in a note to a reporter from Matichon newspaper, which he accused of misleading the public into believing the issue was over.

Yesterday morning, Sriracha warned 34 fellow drafters that if they decided not to leave a room open for a non-elected PM, the country may be plunged into a crisis when no MPs can serve as "a suitable" premier.

"Do decide carefully about the matter because you will all have to be responsible," Sriracha said.

As many as 15 to 20 drafters out of the 35 - many of them directly appointed by the junta - have never spoken in public about what they think.

Critics fear that room may be left to enable the junta to directly take the helm in choosing the future prime minister or use their proxy to rule the country beyond this year.

More than 20 issues will be decided in secret today as the Constitution Drafting Committee seeks to resolve all the divisive and controversial issues by the end of the day.

Other important matters to be decided via secret votes - in which the public will never know who opted for what - include whether to do away with party-list MPs; how much the number of MPs will be reduced; should the Senate be selected or elected; and should a special ad-hoc body be created in times of political crisis to help restore order.

Other equally crucial issues include whether state-provided education should be reduced from 12 to nine years; should heads of the armed forces be included in a special ad-hoc group to help resolve political deadlocks; should inheritance tax be introduced; and should MPs be required to be member of a political party or not.

Prasong Soonsiri, chairman of the drafting committee, said he would try to make sure that most of the 22 or so issues be decided not through voting - and that perhaps only five or six issues would have to be voted on.

The discussion today will be in secret, free from media observation, however. At the end of yesterday's session, Prasong told fellow drafters to rest well and prepare for the "battle zone" today.

The committee, after long debate, decided to recognise community rights and grant them the right to file a lawsuit against abuses by the state. The conclusion was agreed on despite some drafters fearing that communities might be granted "too much power".

Drafter Choochai Supawongse, the main proponent of community rights, told The Nation he was satisfied. "The decision went as we proposed. Their rights are clearer, compared to the 1997 charter," Choochai said.

The meeting yesterday failed to reach a conclusion on whether to bar children of politicians from owning or managing a company.

Those supporting the move say it is needed, given the corrupt track record of the previous Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

Other drafters say it may infringe on the individual rights of children of politicians to do business.

The new charter will also put into writing that politicians shall not commit an act of conflict of interest "directly or indirectly" when handling the granting of state concessions.

A standard of ethics for politicians, government officials and state employees, will be instituted in the new charter. Those violating such ethics will be liable to dismissal.

The selection or appointment of people who will be involved in the exercise of state power will have to be carried out in a "just" and "ethical" manner.

However, some drafters re-mained unconvinced that these rules will succeed in stopping corruption and abuse of power.

"We need to have this chapter [in the charter] because we have to send a signal to politicians and bureaucrats that such laws exist," drafter Dej-udom Krairit said.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

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