Joint session deliberates bills to allow CDA establishment

A joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate commenced this morning to deliberate three bills seeking an amendment of Article 291 of the Constitution that will allow the establishment of a Constitution drafting assembly.

The three draft Constitution amendments were separately proposed by the Cabinet, the ruling Pheu Thai Party and the coalition Chart Thai Pattana Party.

All three drafts propose the amendment of only Section 291 of the 2007 Constitution. Each seek to set up a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA), but with differing numbers of members and different selection processes.

A draft presented by United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or the Red Shirts, was also submitted for deliberation, but was not included in today's joint session, since identity verification for the several thousands of signatories, a time-consuming exercise, has not yet been completed.

The coalition and senatorial whips agreed on Wednesday that deliberation of the three drafts would take place over two days, Thursday and Friday. It was also agreed that the Senate, the opposition, and the coalition would each be given eight hours of debate time.

After the deliberation, a 45-member vetting committee would be set up, with 10 members from the Senate and 35 from the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democrat Party has affirmed its stance against the constitutional amendment.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said earlier that he was concerned that a constitutional amendment could create further social rifts in the country. He was also concerned about political intervention in the Constitution Drafting Assembly.

He called on the government to clarify its real motives behind the amendment and promised that his Democrat party would keep a close eye on the process.