• 
• 

Published on August 5, 2007

Meechai Ruchuphan, president of National Legislative Assembly, yesterday voiced his opposition to a plan to cap political parties' campaign contributions at Bt10 million for each large donor or corporation, and Bt5,000 for an individual.

He argued that such a restriction could force parties to accept under-the-table funds, resulting in a lack of transparency in campaign financing.

"If the money's on the table, it's easier to audit," said Meechai, adding that in the past, one party had maintained second accounts and paid as much as Bt30 million per candidate to finance their campaigns.

He suggested that the Election Commission regulate campaign financing based on actual spending, rather than dressed-down figures.

"It is a reality that candidates with deep pockets have an advantage over their poorer rivals, but the issue is about ensuring a transparent campaign and not about the welfare of candidates with lesser funds"

"Candidates with little or insufficient funding are another issue, since they wouldn't have more money to campaign anyway - even if we capped campaign contributions," Meechai said at a seminar for lawmakers to brainstorm draft provisions relating to elections, political parties and the Election Commission.

Meanwhile, junta chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin yesterday played down concern that banned party executives might be blocked from helping their proxies to campaign at the general election.

"The organic law on political parties is still being drafted and in my opinion, too much restriction might not be a good idea," he said.

Sonthi said the legislation would address political activities involving banned party executives who have had their voting rights revoked for five years.

The disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party saw 111 executives banned following its May 30 conviction for electoral fraud. These executives have vowed to remain active through proxies in the People Power Party.

Commenting on Friday's televised debate on the charter, the junta chief said he was satisfied there would be a successful referendum.

"From a preliminary survey, 90 per cent of constituencies will vote in favour of the charter," he said.

He instructed the Internal Security Operations Command to monitor suspicious activity - vote-buying or agitation against the charter - particularly in the Northeast.

Election Commission chairman Apichart Sukhagganond said he had already dispatched investigators to check allegations that anti-charter opponents were paying Bt200 per vote in the Northeast.

"The checks have not uncovered evidence of foul play," he said, vowing to prosecute anyone found to be rigging the outcome.

He said the commission supported declaring August 20 a public holiday to compensate voters for the August 19 referendum, which is on a Sunday. Some voters might need a day off to return from their constituencies to work.

Democrat Party spokesman Ong-art Klampaiboon said his party opposed draft provisions prohibiting banned party executives from politics or campaigning.

"The provisions, if enacted, are too extreme in transgressing on a basic right for political participation," he said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship campaigned yesterday against the charter in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

They used the slogan "Red: No to the charter", referring to encouragement for charter opponents to wear red shirts as a sign of protest.

In another development, the deputy chief of the junta's secretariat called for the allocation of parliamentary seats to soldiers, saying this would be an effective measure to prevent future coups.

"The constitution should involve the military in order to prevent any more intervention," said General Pasit Sonthikhan.

Pasit said Burma and countries in Africa set legislative quotas for soldiers, and Thailand should emulate these nations by setting aside seats in the House and the Senate for commanding officers.

He asserted that the September 19 coup had occurred because the ruling party held grudges against the military.

"Hard-pressed, soldiers reacted the way they knew how. The coup inflicted huge damage - in the billions of baht - and a suspension of democracy. This would not have happened if soldiers had a role in politics," he said.