BANGKOK, July 7 (TNA) – The parliament voted against a new method to calculate the numbers of list MPs for political parties while accepting a rule for each voters to cast two ballots and vote for two numbers in the next general election.
The voting happened yesterday (July 6) as senators and House representatives considered key issues concerning the general election.
The parliament rejected a proposal for voters to cast two ballots and vote for a single number for their favorite constituency candidate and party-list candidate. The proposal came from the minority members of the House committee scrutinizing a general election bill and was intended to prevent confusion.
The parliament rejected the proposal by 341 votes to 150 with five abstentions and three no-votes.
The parliament accepted the use of two ballots and different numbers for constituency candidates and party-list MPs. It was earlier proposed by the majority members of the election bill scrutiny committee.
Last night the parliament considered methods to calculate the number of list MPs for political parties. It had to choose if all votes for party-list candidates should be divided by 500 or 100.
As observers expected, the parliament rejected the 100 method with 392 votes to 160 with 23 abstentions and two no-votes. It accepted the 500 method proposed by New Palangdharma Party leader Ravee Maschamadol by 354 votes to 162 with 37 abstentions and four no-votes. (TNA)
