The three key revisions to the charter draft proposed by the National Council for Peace and Order may give the NCPO the confidence it will continue to retain a significant say in governance after a general election.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan is certain that with these provisions neither Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha nor he would need to become the next PM to maintain their power.

The three proposals are in addition to the 16 suggestions the Cabinet had earlier presented to the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC). Among the suggestions was the charter should have two different periods of enforcement. First will be an interim period (later called transition period) in which restrictions would be imposed to ensure peace and order, followed by a normal period with full democracy.

The three latest proposals were said to have been derived from the agreement between the Cabinet, the NCPO, the National Legislative Assembly and the National Reform Steering Assembly.

The first proposal is to have a Senate comprising 250 non-elected senators, in which the five military top brass and the national police chief would be ex-officio senators. The senators would serve a five-year term and could grill the government in a no-confidence debate. However, they will not have the power to vote in the PM.

The most widely criticised part of the proposal was about giving ex-officio Senate membership to the military top brass. Prawit has defended it, saying the proposal is intended to prevent a coup. The proposal gives senators an unprecedented, powerful role, including safeguarding the charter and taking part in a no-confidence debate against the government.

The senators would ensure that for the first five years, the charter would not be amended without the Senate’s consent. The Senate would be nothing short of “the largest political party” in Parliament. If the Senate sided with the government or the opposition, it could help make up a majority.

Another powerful role proposed for the Senate is appointment of members to independent agencies and impeaching them.

When a no-confidence debate is launched, the Senate can both oppose and support the government. “If the government is the junta’s ally, the Senate will check and balance the power. If the government is the junta’s rival, the Senate will support the government,” a source said.

The Senate would serve a term of five years while MPs serve a four-year term, which means the Senate could work with two governments.

The second proposal was to adopt a two ballot-paper election system with 150 party-list MPs and 350 constituency MPs, with three MP candidates in one constituency. A voter would cast a ballot for only one MP candidate. Large parties like Pheu Thai would stand to lose advantage under this system.

The third proposal was to remove a provision in the charter draft that required political parties to announce PM candidates before an election.

The NCPO said that this provision might become a hindrance to forming a government, especially if the PM candidates withdrew or were disqualified; or if no party had a majority vote to form a government and a coalition government was needed but the coalition parties could not agree on who should become PM. They might nominate others who were not on the list announced earlier. This might pave the way for a non-elected PM, or for the junta members to continue in power. But the NCPO said that during the interim period, this provision should not be adopted. CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan had said that this provision was to prevent a “hooded man” from becoming the PM.

Prawit insisted that he and Prayut would not become PM after a general election. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam also confirmed this. A source said the reason behind the proposed removal of the provision was because PM candidates who were nominated may not want the public to know about their nomination prior to an election.

This was because once their names were revealed to the public, they would become targets for attack and scrutiny.