Parliament of Thailand under the Provision of the 2017 Constitution and Its Parliamentary Democracy Development

Abstract

The objectives of this research are; 1) to study Thai politics under the provision of Thailand 2017 constitution, 2) to identify problems of Thai parliament once the provision of Thailand 2007 Constitution has been effective, and 3) to propose the appropriate structural and power exercising model of the parliament to support Thailand’s democratic political development. This is a documentary research employing qualitative method and in-depth interview. The samples include 10 key informants who are former prime-minister, former president of the House of Representatives, former president of senate, members of the House of Representatives, and political science academics. Descriptive analysis method is used to interpret and analyze data collected.

          The results of the research were as follows: 1) Once Thailand 2017 Constitution is effective, it brings political disorder and the movement against the Junta-inherited government. This problem is caused by the election system which did not reflect the actual desire of major population, and the powerful senate recruited by the previous military government favoring the Junta to continue in power. 2) Problems of Thai parliament under the provision of Thailand 2007 Constitution are the member of house of representative election system does not reflect the actual decision of major population, legislative power of the members of house of representative is limited, the recruitment process of senate does not conform with the concept of people’s sovereignty, and the autonomous of the senate is not perceived by people. 3) The appropriate structural and power exercising model of parliament to support Thailand’s democratic political development include using the proportional election system to guarantee people’s constituency representatives and to judge the popular votes, the legislative power of house of representative should be aligned with the core concept of the parliamentary system, the senate should be comprised of 2 types of members-  elected and recruited- to establish check and balance system within organization, the power of senate should be limited as per their connection level to people.