Senators' meeting to end conflict over charter rewrite collapses

They refused to debate the issues relating to the Constitution, hence bringing the meeting to an abrupt ending.

Proponents of constitutional changes who comprise mostly elected senators and their opponents who are appointees both boycotted the meeting's afternoon session following an exchange of sharp words in the morning.

Under the sponsorship of all 22 Senate committees, the meeting opened the morning session by turning the podium to the proponents. The opponents were scheduled to have their turn in the afternoon.

Senator Yuthana Yuparit from Yasothon was the first panalist to speak in favour of amending the charter. Yuthana said he wanted to push for a revamp in the senatorial electoral system. He argued that the number of Senate seats should be determined by the constituency size instead of a flat allocation of one seat per province.

The other senator to take the podium was Jittipoj Wiriyaroj from Si Sa Ket. He said charter writers failed to factor in the outcome of the public hearing when they designed a mixed system of elected and appointed senators.

After the remarks by two panalists, appointed Senator Warin Thiamcharas spoke from the audience demanding the meeting be suspended.

Warin said he was initially scheduled to be a panalist in the afternoon but decided to abstain because he found the meeting a useless exercise.

"This morning, supporters of amendments have wasted the entire session venting their personal feelings instead of outlining their views on how to resolve differing opinions over the charter," he said.

Proponents and opponents traded barbs blaming the other for causing the conflict to persist.

Former charter writer Seri Suwanpanont said he saw no end to the conflict in the near future as rival camps refused to listen to one another.

Seri said the country will be mired by political animosity until the completion of the judicial review to sort out the legal wrangling linked to the Thaksin Shinawatra government.

He suggested for rival sides to stop bickering about the charter on grounds that they should not stir up additional problems while awaiting the judiciary to render the verdict.