Page 29 - kpi18886

21

The First Challenge:
Recruit Qualified Politicians to the Parliament

Politicians are important elements of representative
democracy, as they gather and develop public policy
alternatives for the people. The people choose their
preferred politicians and public policies through election or
referendum. In this regard, politicians, political parties,
public policies, elections, and the people are linked. The
relationship among them is essential and has a critical
impact on the direction of democracy and politics in the
nation.

The 2017 Constitution and its associated organic
laws reflect Thailand’s most recent attempt at designing
political institutions. The aim is to create new mechanisms,
especially the electoral and party systems, in order to
support politicians with high quality to be elected by the
people.

In Group Discussion 1, participants will discuss
whether the new electoral and party systems designed for
the 2017 Constitution will achieve the outcomes that the
constitution drafters expected and raise suggestions
concerning how the intended outcomes could be achieved.

Issues for group discussion

1. Is the new election system able to get qualified
politicians?

2. Will systems in political party law such as party
membership and primary elections help yield
qualified representatives?

3. How can the Election Commission of Thailand
encourage politicians to be more qualified?