Thailand’s Constitutional Court has agreed to accept for consideration a petition, sent through the ombudsmen by former Thai Raksa Chart candidate Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, to determine whether the rule on party-list seat calculation in the election law is constitutional.
A former legal advisor to the Pheu Thai party, Mr. Ruangkrai, contends that Article 128 of the MP Election Act, regarding the allocation of the 150 party-list seats, conflicts with Article 91 of the Constitution.
An informed court source said that the issue at stake was a matter of legality and, therefore, there would be no need for the Constitutional Court to hold an inquiry and that the court could proceed with consideration of the case and a ruling is expected on May 8th.
However, the source added that the court would ask the secretary-general of the House of Representatives to submit files about party-list seat calculation from the Constitution Drafting Committee and the scrutiny committee of the disbanded National Legislative Assembly for deliberation.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling is expected to put an end to the confusion regarding the formula or formulae for use in the calculation of party-list seat sharing.
Earlier, the Constitutional Court rejected a petition from the Election Commission for the court to rule on the formula on the grounds that the EC is empowered to decide the matter itself.
