SELECTION OF CONSTITUTION DRAFTERS BEGINS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 006593

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PACOM FOR FPA HUSO
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TH
SUBJECT: SELECTION OF CONSTITUTION DRAFTERS BEGINS

REF: A. BANGKOK 6399 (GETTING TO A NEW THAI CONSTITUTION)


B. BANGKOK 6354 (CIVIL SOCIETY: PATIENCE WEARING
THIN)

Classified By: Political Counselor Susan M. Sutton, reason 1.4 (b) (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The selection of the 2000-member National
Peoples Assembly is underway, the first step in a multi-stage
process to choose the drafters of the new constitution. The
complicated process may result in a constitution drafting
body more representative than the widely-criticized interim
legislature, but results will not be known until the final
selections are made, probably by late December. A legal
expert involved in the process believes that the new
constitution and other required new laws can be ready in time
to return to democratically-elected government in a year, but
this will require some compression of the timeline laid out
in the interim constitution. The selection of a respected
drafting committee could defuse some of the criticisms of the
interim government and the coup council. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) On October 18, the Council for National Security
(CNS) announced it had selected a 17-member committee which
will, in turn, choose the 2000 members of the National
People's Assembly, the first step in the process of drafting
the new constitution. The Selection Committee membership
includes the permsecs or secgens of several ministries and
agencies, as well as jurists and civil society
representatives. The committee is headed by ACM Chalit
Pukphasuk, deputy chair of the CNS. The Selection Committee
will choose 2000 people "from all walks of life" as the first
step in a multi-layered process that will eventually result
in a 35-member Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) to write
the new charter. This complicated process is set out in the
interim Constitution; the Selection Committee distributed a
handbook on October 27 laying out in detail the procedures
for choosing the 2000 NPA members. The Selection Committee
also announced their proposed timetable for the selection of
the 2000 members:

October 27-Nov. 2 Provincial selection committees send
nomination forms to related organizations for the nomination
of candidates

Nov. 3 Nominated candidates report to the respective
provincial selection committees

Nov. 4-8 Period during which objections can be raised to any
candidate

Nov. 14-15 Selections are made

Nov. 17 List of winning candidates from the provincial
selection committees submitted to the central Selection
Commission.


3. (SBU) The members of the NPA must be at least 18 years
old, and they cannot have been a member of a political party
for the past two years. According to the press reports, the
2000 members will be drawn from the following sectors of
society, each with an attached quota:

Economic and Social Sector - 767 members
Government Sector - 312
Local Administrative Organizations - 227
Independent Organizations - 16
Technocrats/Specialists - 302
Students - 140
Multi-disciplinary Professionals selected by the Cabinet - 115
Multi-disciplinary Professionals selected by the CNS - 115
Multi-disciplinary Professional selected by the CNS and
Cabinet - open. This category will be used to pick however
many are needed to make up the 2000 total, in case any of the
other categories come up short of candidates.

Some of these sectors are further divided into sub-groups,
such as labor unions, journalists, and other professional
associations.


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AND THE WINNER IS...
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4. (U) According to the interim Constitution, once the 2000
members are appointed by the King, the NPA will convene and,
within seven days, nominate 200 of its members as candidates
for the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA). The NPA will
then dissolve itself. The following steps are then laid out
in the interim constitution:

-- The Council for National Security will choose 100 of
these candidates to form the Constitution Drafting Assembly
(CDA). (The first meeting of the CDA starts the clock
ticking: they then have 180 days to draft and approve the
constitution.)

-- This Assembly in turn chooses "25 eminent persons who may
or may not be members of the CDA."

-- The Assembly will also choose "10 eminent persons who may
or may not be members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly
on the advice of the Chairman of the Council for National
Security." (Note: it is understood that these 10 are, in
point of fact, chosen by the CNS, which we hear has already
selected a short list of candidates from which is will fill
these slots. End note.)

-- These 35 people will be the drafters of the new
constitution.


5. (SBU) This process is somewhat similar to procedures for
the 1997 Constitution, in which a large number of candidates
from around the country was winnowed down to a 99-member CDA,
which then selected 17 drafters. In that case, the
parliament had the job of selecting from among the candidates
to choose the final membership of the Drafting Assembly, a
duty which falls to the CNS this time. As it did in 1996,
the CDA this time serves several further functions, including
reviewing the draft constitution, proposing amendments, and
voting on the final draft before it can be submitted to the
public for a referendum.


6. (C) Polcouns met October 26 with Dej-Udom Krairit, the
President of the Lawyers Council of Thailand and a member of
the Selection Committee choosing the 2000 NPA members.
Dej-Udom said that the Committee had begun work on the day
the appointments were announced, and had been working
non-stop since, in order to prepare the guidelines for the
selection process. Dej-Udom said that he expected the
process to move quickly now that it had begun. Where the
constitution specifies a deadline for choices (such as the
2000-member NPA whittling itself down to 200 within seven
days),he was confident the deadline would be met. Where no
deadline was specified (the CNS choosing 100 from the 200
nominees),he expected decisions would be made within
two-three days. The final list of the 2000 NPA members would
be ready by November 22 at latest, he said, and the NPA would
presumably meet sometime in December (probably after the
King's birthday/national day on December 5) to select from
itself the 200 candidates for the next stage. He anticipated
that the final 35-member Constitution Drafting Committee
(CDC) would be ready to meet sometime in January.

GOAL: A REPRESENTATIVE DRAFTING COMMITTEE
--------------


7. (C) We pointed out that there was some skepticism about
the selection process for the 35 constitution drafters. At
each stage, the coup council was in charge of key elements of
the selection, leading some to question whether the 35-member
Drafting Committee would really be a representative body,
rather than a vehicle for the "Bangkok elite" and those who
shared the CNS' viewpoint. We questioned whether the
elaborate procedures for choosing 2000 people "from all walks
of life" would ultimately be irrelevant, once the CNS has
made its choices. Dej-Udom recognized the reasons for
concern. However, he made a strong argument that drafting
body would ultimately be genuinely representative. He
explained that the intent was for the general proportions

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outlined in paragraph three above to be maintained at each
step in the selection process. The voting guidelines would
(in some unspecified way) lead to a list of 200 candidates
divided up in roughly the same proportions as the initial

2000. From those candidates, the CNS would choose a broadly
representative group of 100. Once the CDA had chosen its 25
constitution drafters, the CNS would use its 10 slots again
to help ensure diversity. We asked whether the 35-member
Drafting Committee would, ultimately, look like the National
Legislative Assembly -- dominated by Bangkok-based
bureaucrats, military and academics. Dej-Udom predicted that
it would not.


8. (C) Dej-Udom acknowledged that some elements of society
were skeptical about the process, and the Selection Committee
was looking for ways to build confidence. He had just met
with representatives of the Journalists Association, for
example, and assured them that they would decide
independently which journalists were included in the NPA.
Dej-Udom himself had been uncertain of whether he should
participate in the Selection Committee, given misgivings
about the coup, but had decided he should work to improve the
political situation in his country, rather than sitting on
the sidelines.

BACKGROUND: IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK
--------------


9. (C) Within the 180-day time frame, the 35-member Drafting
Committee must accomplish the following tasks: produce a
first draft; submit the draft to the 100-member Assembly and
other relevant institutions (CNS, National Legislative
Assembly, the cabinet, courts, etc.) for comment; publicize
the first draft and organize public hearings and fora to
solicit input; consider opinions and proposed amendments
within 30 days after dissemination of the first draft; and
submit a final version to the CDA for approval, or
disapproval. The National Legislative Assembly then has to
pass the necessary "organic laws" for example, on elections
and political parties. The Election Commission then has to
set the election date and organize the elections.


10. (C) If elections are to be held on October 1, 2007 (one
year from the date of the appointment of PM Surayud),the
election date should normally be set by August 2, 2007 to
allow 60 days for the Election Commission to organize the
elections. Assuming that it takes 90 days after the
constitution is finished to draft/pass the necessary organic
laws (the amount of time allotted in the interim
constitution),the draft constitution should be completed by
May 4, 2007. Since it seems unlikely that the constitution
will be ready by this time, the drafting period for the
organic laws and/or the election season would have to be
shortened if the elections were to be held by October 1.


11. (C) We pointed out to Dej-Udom that, if the Constitution
Drafting Committee does not convene until January, it would
be very difficult for the government to meet the target of
handing authority back to elected government in a year after
the coup, given the timeline laid out in the interim
Constitution. Dej-Udom anticipated that the timeline could be
accelerated for at least some of these steps. The
constitution drafters, for example, would not start from
scratch, but would begin, he expected, with the 1997
Constitution as a basis. They therefore might not require
six full months for the drafting and approval process. Some
of the drafting of the organic laws could overlap with the
later stages of the constitution writing. He believed that
the CNS wanted to keep the process moving quickly and would
be able to prevent slippage.

COMMENT
--------------


12. (C) The Council for National Security was criticized for
choosing an interim legislature that was not representative
of the people; for the constitution drafting process, they
seem to recognize that they have to try harder to overcome
accusations of insularity and elitism. This is a worthy goal,

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although the process of selecting the constitution drafters
still seems to require a very great amount of time and effort
for an uncertain result. At least they have now committed
themselves to a timetable and a plan. Opinions clearly vary
among the experts about how long the drafting of the
constitution and related laws will actually take (reftels);
Dej-Udom is more optimistic than others that the process can
be accelerated. We will continue to urge all the
participants in the process to work as quickly as possible
and to ensure a rapid return to elected government.


BOYCE