The Finance Ministry has proposed that the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission (NBTC) offer Internet access free of charge to underprivileged people who hold state welfare cards.

Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said it would benefit farmers, for example, who could access market crop prices and other useful data in real time.

He said farmers would be able to follow price trends on low-cost smartphones so they could make more informed decisions on what and when to plant, avoiding issues like oversupply. The NBTC would work out the details, Apisak said, and low-income people other than farmers would also benefit from online access to improve their individual economic well-being.

They could, for example, track job opportunities or seek training to develop new skills, thus getting the chance to upgrade their employment situation.

Apisak said the free Internet scheme was not intended for entertainment or gaming and should be first tested for six months pending Cabinet approval.

State-owned TOT Plc would be responsible for providing the service to registered low-income people around the country, he said.

Pocket money for New Year

Meanwhile, Suthirat Rattanachote, chief of the Comptroller-General’s Department, said the government would also start adding money to welfare cards later this month to help them buy necessities for the year-end.

More than 11 million people on annual income under Bt100,000 – less than Bt8,300 per month – have registered for and received welfare cards, qualifying for state subsidies including limited amounts of electricity and tap water.

Suthirat said the money would be transferred to welfare cardholders from December through September 2019. They will have to pay their electricity and water bills initially but would be reimbursed on a monthly basis. In addition, the government will transfer Bt500 to each cardholder from December 8-10 as part of the welfare plan to boost purchasing power.

An unspecified number of disabled citizens and people over 60 will receive the same amount in January and February.

Other measures include a Bt1,000 subsidy for people aged 65 and older to cover their expenses commuting to healthcare facilities, and another Bt400 for monthly rent.

The raft of benefits will cost billions of baht in tax money as the government gears up its state welfare campaign ahead of the general election.

The 11 million-plus citizens registered for welfare and listed in a government database so the Finance Ministry can transfer money directly to their PromptPay bank accounts, bypassing intermediaries.

DISTRUST AMONG candidates led the Democrat Party to opt for blockchain technology last month when it was choosing its new leader. It was the first time digital technology had been utilised in Thai politics.

More than 120,000 votes were cast using the Thai-developed Zcoin blockchain during the November 1-9 vote.

Zcoin is an open-source, decentralised private cryptocurrency system featuring anonymity for its users with data stored on the blockchain.

Poramin Insom, founder and lead developer of Zcoin, helped Democrats tap the potential of this new technology, which also offers greater transparency and other benefits.

According to Poramin, candidates for the party’s leadership and its internal election commission were concerned about how to store the voting data securely, fearing there could be fraud and unfairness in the election.

Storage of data on blockchain prevents unauthorised changes, since any alteration requires a consensus among majority stakeholders.

Though Zcoin blockchain ensures voters’ anonymity, the party chose an option that allowed results to be cross-checked, Poramin told The Nation Weekend.

It was Thailand’s first large-scale electronic voting with two sets of data involved: identification documents and vote tallies, he explained.

The data were encrypted and stored on an IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), a decentralised and distributed file-storage system.

The IPFS hashes were then stored on the Zcoin blockchain, which acted as a decentralised immutable database that could be audited by the party’s election commission and its three leadership candidates.

The voting data could only be decrypted if all five groups involved – three representatives of each candidate, the election commission and the Democrat Party itself – were present and in agreement.

It was a tight race for the two top candidates, former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva and his challenger Warong Dechgitvigrom, with Abhisit winning 67,505 votes and Warong close behind with 57,689 votes.

“The unique circumstances of this election made Zcoin’s blockchain a good fit to record votes and sets the stage for future deployment of e-voting systems in the country,” Poramin said.

However, he said, preparations for the use of blockchain should have been made much earlier in order to ensure a smoother process. After all, technical errors would have prompted sceptics to suspect cheating and would have given the new technology a bad name.

In his view, Thailand has the potential to utilise this technology in a national election and it would be possible to do so in the next few years with growing demand from voters and candidates.

He said election organisers could develop electronic-voting machines and use blockchain to store the data.

“I believe we’ve achieved a huge milestone in our country’s political history and hope other political parties or even governments, not just in Thailand but elsewhere in the region, can look to using blockchain technology in enabling large scale e-voting,” Poramin said.

Meanwhile, new political players such as the Moderate Party and Future Forward Party are also keen to use new technology.

Moderate Party founder Chumphon Krootkaew said party members use computers and smartphones as their main communication tools.

“So most of the time, we are working online. We discuss and hold meetings on the Internet,” Chumphon said. “Everyone can basically work from home. And this saves us so much time and money because we don’t need a bricks-and-mortar office.”

The party stores membership data and other documents mainly in soft files, he said. Although sometimes some of the data have to be collected traditionally in paper form, they are recorded digitally afterwards, he explained.

Though the Moderate Party has yet to obtain legal standing, Chumphon said that once it is officially registered, it will launch a website and make it a hub for administrative work and communication.

The Future Forward Party relies extensively on cloud computing in its operations.

Party registrar Klaikong Vaidhyakarn said administrative affairs, internal communication and emails, as well as the donation system, are all connected through its official website, futureforwardparty.org. Party members work and coordinate via the website, and even the decision-making process within the party is done online.

About 40 per cent of the members also use this system to vote for branch leaders and executives, Klaikong said.

The system is trustworthy, with a verification protocol that matches the standards of online banking applications.

Like the Moderate Party, Klaikong said his party allowed members and staff to work online.

This allowed better participation as well as flexibility since they don’t have to be at the office and could work anywhere, he added.

Prayut angrily complained about media questions regarding the matter while chairing a meeting of the National Strategy Committee at Government House.

“The media kept asking me about the division of constituencies. Damn it! Are they going to drop dead because of this nonsense? This should be in line with the rules – whether it is right or wrong, I have nothing to do with it. The prime minister knows nothing about the designation of constituencies,” he was quoted as saying by the source.

Prayut, who heads the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), also reacted to allegations by politicians that the mapping of many constituencies was in favour of a particular pro-junta political party.

He said those politicians appeared to be adherent to their old constituencies and were unaware of changes in population over the past four to five years.

“It all depends on the voters. If they vote for no-one, you don’t get elected whatever party you are in or however the constituencies are divided,” the PM was quoted as saying.

He dismissed suspicion that the EC’s constituency mapping was influenced by people in power.

“I am not on any side and I did not make any order,” Prayut said.

Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is a key figures in the NCPO, maintained on Friday that the junta had nothing to do with the constituency mapping.

When asked if he was worried that dissatisfaction by political parties could lead to a boycott of the election, General Prawit said he did not think there would be a boycott. “There are only a few complaining parties,” he added.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Friday that any political party unhappy with the way the EC had designated constituencies could consider petition the Administrative Court but that it depends on the court whether to accept such lawsuits.

Meanwhile, politicians from the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties on Friday continued to hit at the EC and the NCPO over what they described as unfair mapping of constituencies in favour of a particular pro-junta party.

Democrat Party politician Watchara Phetthong said he hoped the election commissioners would not end up being sent to jail like their predecessors many years ago, who were found guilty of failing to ensure fairness in an election.

POLITICIANS FROM major political parties yesterday cried foul at the constituency mapping done by the Election Commission (EC), claiming that a particular party was favoured through alleged gerrymandering.

The uproar came shortly after the EC announced details of all 350 constituencies in all of the country’s 77 provinces.

The EC’s long-awaited announcement lists all constituencies in each province and identifies districts and sub-districts to be included in each of the constituencies.

Eight provinces with a small population have only one constituency each. Bangkok has the highest number of constituencies at 30, followed by Nakhon Ratchasima (14), Ubon Ratchathani and Khon Kaen (10 each) and Chiang Mai (9).

The announcement – issued on Wednesday and signed by the agency’s president Ittiporn Boonpracong – was published in the Royal Gazette yesterday, with immediate effect.

Its preamble explains that the EC designated the constituency boundaries in accordance with authority given to the agency by the relevant laws and orders issued by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

EC deputy secretary-general Nath Laoseesawakool said yesterday that the agency had considered all 98 complaints it received across 33 provinces. He added, however, that the EC also took into account relevant clauses in the MP election law, including one calling for adjacent districts to be merged into the one constituency for the sake of convenient transport for eligible voters.

Despite Nath’s defence, politicians yesterday charged that they suspected gerrymandering of the boundaries.

A Democrat Party former MP for Sukhothai, Sampan Tangbenjapol, said in his Facebook message that the EC had adopted an unforeseen electoral map a “fourth option” for drawing boundaries, when the agency had previously offered only three choices for voters and candidates to see.

The EC developed the new constituency boundaries over the past couple of months, after putting three different options for each electoral area before public hearings and taking feedback.

“It is just the start and already there’s this lack of transparency,” Sampan said. “Plus, the constituencies had already been drawn since the 2014 election and the population number hasn’t changed much. But they redrew the entire map.”

Sampan reported some irregularities in the new drawing. He said certain districts are not exactly proximate but were grouped together as the same constituency, pointing out that this might violate the law.

The politician encouraged voters not to yield to corrupt representatives and to stand up against dictatorship in this election.

Prayut Siriphanit, Pheu Thai Party’s head for the northeastern region, told The Nation that the new electoral constituencies in the areas he is responsible for also saw some changes. He admitted that the maps could impact Pheu Thai candidates in those areas. However, the politician said that they were coming up with plans to deal with this challenge and vowed to win as many constituencies as possible.

“We have to do our best, no matter what,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chaturon Chaisang, now a core leader of Thai Raksa Chart Party, said the new drawing may not have taken into account the public opinion.

His remark referred to the junta order issued at nearly the last minute, that allowed the EC to redraw the map as it saw fit. The order was made even though the agency had already completed the task, with constituency boundaries in line with the opinions offered by local voters and MP candidates.

“The new drawings were done behind closed doors. A handful of people just proposed a new option via some expressway and they miraculously got what they’d asked for,” Chaturon wrote on Facebook. “So, they are just going to take advantage over others until the last minute.”

Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, a former EC member who recently joined the Democrat Party, yesterday called on his former institution to maintain |transparency in order to gain public confidence.

He also urged the agency to investigate the premature release of the 57-page EC announcement, minus the president’s signature, on social media on Wednesday night.

In response, the EC’s Nath yesterday said that the agency had no concerns regarding the matter, and saw no benefit in taking action against someone behind the premature release.

“Our country is heading towards an election. We all should help with this,” he said.

Constituencies all over the country were in need of redrawn boundaries, as the current Constitution reduced the number of constituencies in the upcoming general election to 350 from the 400 in the previous polls.

There have been complaints of gerrymandering and allegations that the issue of constituency redrawing was used to persuade former MPs to defect from |their parties to a new pro-junta political party.

Gerrymandering is a serious threat for political parties. If a party’s stronghold is separated into two constituencies, for example, that party could lose the election in one or both of those constituencies.

+++++++++

PROVINCES WITH MOST CONSTITUENCIES

Bangkok     30

Nakhon Ratchasima     14

Ubon Ratchathani     10

Khon Kaen     10

Chiang Mai     9

Udon Thani     8

Songkhla     8

Si Sa Ket     8

Buri Ram     8

Nakhon Si Thammarat     8

Source: Election Commission

THE ELECTION Commission (EC) has completed the redrawing of constituencies and the details will be announced in the Royal Gazette soon, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday.

Wissanu, who is in charge of the government’s legal affairs, said the government has been informed of the EC’s completion of the task, adding that those who are unhappy with the new constituencies can petition the Administrative Court.

The deputy PM added that the EC had earlier informed the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) about complaints from politicians related to the redrawing of constituencies. However, he said, the documents have not been unveiled and he has no details about the matter.

The EC has been working on redrawing constituency boundaries over the past couple of months, and has used three different options for each electoral area before public hearings.

However, the NCPO recently issued an order legalising any decision on constituency mapping by the EC, no matter whether it is in line with existing laws. This has led to rumours that a fourth way of constituency drawing had emerged in many areas.

Politicians have also expressed concern that the junta order, which is treated as law, could allow boundary gerrymandering in a way that benefits certain political parties, particularly one that is pro-junta.

There have also been complaints of gerrymandering and allegations that the issue of constituency redrawing was used to persuade former MPs to defect to a pro-junta political party.

Gerrymandering is a serious threat for political parties. If a party’s stronghold is separated into two constituencies, for instance, then that party can lose the election in one or both those constituencies.

Constituencies need to be redrawn because under the current Constitution, there can only be 350 constituencies in the next general election, compared to 400 in previous polls.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is in Germany, promised yesterday that his government will hold an election that is “the fairest”.

As for the mass defection of former MPs to the pro-junta Palang Pracharat Party, General Prayut said that was a normal “political mechanism” – something that he, as a premier, had no jurisdiction over. He also noted that this current post-coup administration will cease to exist as soon as a new government is set up.

Prayut has been on an official trip to Germany from Tuesday and will return today.

Meanwhile, Anek Laothamathas, co-founder of Action Coalition for Thailand Party, called on the NCPO yesterday to allow politicians to campaign freely, without monitoring by military officers.

Anek, an academic-turned-politician, said that once the political restrictions are lifted, politicians should be allowed to “campaign naturally” without any interference.

“Politicians must be able to campaign for votes without being followed or monitored when they visit constituents,” he said.

A meeting between the NCPO and political parties has been scheduled for December 7 and the lifting of political restrictions – that have been in place since the 2014 coup – is expected to be on the agenda.

Anek also said he believed the election will be held on February 24, as reiterated by senior government figures, including Deputy Premier and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan.

The agency will be set up under a special Article 44 order issued by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

In his capacity as chairman of NCPO, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signed the order, which became effective on Monday after it was published in the Royal Gazette.

Under this order, the new agency for national reform and reconciliation will be in place for five years, after which it can be dissolved.

The order underlines the junta’s original intent to pursue a reform and national reconciliation agenda following the 2014 coup.

The new agency will take over responsibilities from other state units and committees to reform the country in line with national strategic objectives and promote national reconciliation.

In the process, some articles of the national economic and social-development advisory board, political development council as well as the national legal reform council legislation will be abolished.

In addition, some employees of these units will be transferred to the new agency.

The new agency’s director will be appointed by Cabinet to drive the efforts to reform the country’s bureaucracy, economy and legal framework, and to promote national reconciliation via more than 10 existing committees.

Among these committees are those responsible for the Thailand 4.0 initiative and the Thai Niyom sustainable development programme designed to upgrade the country’s international competitiveness over the next two decades.

In addition, the government has launched the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) mega-infrastructure development programme, granting tax and other privileges in designated areas of Chon Buri, Chachoengsao and Rayong provinces.

The EEC programme is designed to promote investment in 10 new high-growth industries – next-generation automobiles, smart electronics, medical and wellness tourism, smart agriculture, biotechnology, food for the future, robotics and Internet of Things, among others.

These programmes and initiatives are part of the government’s strategic national development goal for the next two decades, during which the digital economy and society as well as electronic government services, among others, will play a leading role.

Based on the NCPO order, the new agency on national reform and reconciliation will be governed by its board of directors to be chaired by the prime minister, while a deputy premier will be vice chairman.

Other members of the board include up to three Cabinet members, the permanent secretary for defence as well as the secretaries-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, the Council of State, the Civil Service Commission and the Budget Bureau director.

THE PRO-JUNTA Palang Pracharat Party could win the next election but the post-poll coalition government it would lead would be unstable, according to experts.

Thanks to mass defections by former MPs and veteran politicians to the newly formed party, Palang Pracharat could win at least 130 of the 500 House seats up for grabs and become the biggest winner, King Prajadhipok’s Institute senior researcher Stithorn Thananithichot said yesterday.

His estimates are based on the assumption that the pro-junta party’s election candidates, many of whom are former MPs, will win about 50 seats from their traditional strongholds. Some 80 other MP seats would come from the party-list system of proportional representation, the researcher said.

Stithorn expects Palang Pracharat to secure an average of 20,000 votes in the 300 constituencies that it would lose. That would be 6 million votes in total. When divided by 70,000 – the minimum votes for a winning candidate – the 6 million votes would translate into 80 to 85 party-list MPs, he said.

The next election will mark the first time when only one ballot will be used to vote for both constituency and party-list MPs. All the votes gained by each political party will be totalled to determine the number of party-list MPs it can get.

“Palang Pracharat has a good chance of forming the next government. But how long the coalition will survive depends on the second and third largest partners, who will have high bargaining power,” Stithorn said.

“It is unlikely Palang Pracharat will be able to form a government on its own. Pheu Thai and Democrat parties will win sufficient MPs to make them potential coalition partners,” he added.

The researcher also said that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha had a good chance of returning as head of the next government if Palang Pracharat backed him as its PM candidate.

However, political scientist Trakoon Meechai warned that a coalition government led by Palang Pracharat would be unstable, as the party had gathered many defecting politicians.

These politicians mainly focus on their personal interest and generally have no firm political ideology, which explains why they opted to change their allegiance in the first place, the academic said.

“Palang Pracharat seems to have an edge in the election. But it will become unstable. There will be a lot of political bargaining. Without good responses [to different demands], it will face a problem of political stability,” Trakoon said.

He pointed to certain “lessons from the past” when large political parties wooed strong candidates into their fold with the only goal of forming the government. Their coalition governments soon became unstable when the MPs were discontented with their gains.

In order to avoid such a “vicious cycle” for Thai politics, the academic called on Prayut and the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to “back off from the political ring and return to their role as the referee”.

He said that to ensure the political reforms it had promised, the NCPO needed to “stop meddling with politics, or Thai politics will never see a way out”.

Veteran politician Chaturon Chaisang said yesterday that the current Constitution drafted by a junta-appointed committee allows Prayut to become a PM candidate after the election without having to be a member of any political party. However, he expected Prayut to “go on with difficulty and wear down quickly” when he is denied the special powers under Article 44 of the post-coup interim charter, which the junta leader has retained in the current Constitution.

Chaturon, who recently left Pheu Thai to join Thai Raksa Chart, said he believed “pro-democracy politicians” had defected to the other side after being pressured with legal problems.

He said the junta’s obvious attempt to retain power reflected its failure to keep the promise of reforms for a better political system.

“We have seen how the NCPO and its people have ruined Thailand’s political system,” Chaturon said.

Palang Pracharat has attracted more than 1,300 members, allowing the party to have more than the expected election candidates, party registrar Vichien Chavalit said yesterday.

Among its new members are many ex-MPs and former government ministers from other parties, mainly Pheu Thai.

Vichien said Palang Pracharat has not formally discussed whether to nominate Prayut as its PM candidate. That would be done “when the time is right”, he added.

Among politicians joining Palang Pracharat are 40 former MPs from Pheu Thai and now-defunct parties associated with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, namely Thai Rak Thai and People Power, according to red-shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn.

Weng, a former Pheu Thai MP, recently left the party to join Thai Raksa Chart, which is viewed as allied to the pro-Thaksin party.

In his Facebook message, Weng listed all the 40 defecting politicians and asked voters to “teach them a lesson” in the same way they had dealt with Pheu Thai defectors who had failed to get elected in the 2011 general election.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that 17 of its former MPs had defected to other parties. But he did not reveal how many of them had joined Palang Pracharat.

A former prime minister, Abhisit maintained that the Democrats had no plans to join hands with Palang Pracharat, as his party is offering itself as a major choice for the country in the next election.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, in effect, has kept his options open – he could become the leader of the next government by either becoming a political party’s non-MP prime ministerial candidate or by being nominated as a premier via votes from both houses of Parliament.

General Prayut, who heads the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said yesterday that he did not need to join any party as of now, though he implied that he was waiting for an invitation.

Prayut said his discussion came after he spoke to the government’s legal advisers, including Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.

“I already talked to the legal team, I don’t need to be a member or anything,” he said, adding that he had not been approached by any particular party. He also said his political future will be clearer once all electoral laws are in place.

“I don’t know if I will accept the invitation. Let’s see what I decide and if their offer matches my desires,” Prayut said yesterday.

By law, election candidates need to be under the banner of the party they want to represent at least 90 days before the election.

Asked how much of his heart was in the decision, Prayut replied: “If I decide at all, I will certainly give it 100 per cent, |not just a little here and there.”

Meanwhile, things remained uncertain yesterday as the junta leader declined to say when the ban on political activities will be lifted. He only said the NCPO will discuss the matter with political parties on December 7, though major players such as Thai Raksa Chart Party and Pheu Thai have revealed they will not attend the meeting.

Government spokesman Puttipong Punnakanta said yesterday that the decision to lift the ban will come after the election decree is announced.

Meanwhile, many aspiring politicians applied to join political parties yesterday.

Palang Pracharat Party, which is viewed as pro-junta and led by four members of Prayut’s Cabinet, continued to attract former MPs and veteran politicians into its fold yesterday. These included former Si Sa Ket MP Danairit Watcharaporn and Roi Et Provincial Administrative Organisation deputy chief executive Juriporn Sinthuprai, who is the younger sister of the Northeast province’s former MP Nisit Sinthuprai.

Danairit and Juriporn were the latest among a large group of politicians who defected from Pheu Thai Party to the pro-junta Palang Pracharat.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said that politicians were joining the pro-junta party for four key reasons: money, promises of government projects in their constituencies, gerrymandering that is favourable to them and promises of “help” in their legal problems.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan dismissed claims that the junta would influence legal cases against politicians who join the pro-junta party.

“The government is not a court and we can’t control courts. This is a matter for the courts,” he said.

The Democrat Party, meanwhile, managed to draw in more prominent figures yesterday.

Former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Pol Maj-General Wichai Sangprapai and former transport minister Aram-achawat Lohwira applied to join the Democrat Party and offered themselves as the party’s election candidates. They were personally greeted by Abhisit and other senior party figures at the party’s headquarters.

On Sunday, former election commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn joined the Democrat Party and is expected to become one of its election candidates.

Only a few provinces – including northeastern Kalasin – saw a large presence of applicants.

A small number of applicants was reported in Chiang Mai, Songkhla, Trang, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok and Maha Sarakham.

Not a single application was reported to be filed in several provinces, including Krabi, Pattani and Nakhon Ratchasima.

Local Election Commission officials declined to give details about the exact numbers of applicants or their names at this stage.

They explained that the law prohibited them from doing so, saying that such details would be available only after the application period closes this coming Friday.

Members of the first Senate under the current Constitution, which will serve a five-year term, will be entirely appointed by the ruling junta, the National Council for Peace and Order.

Fifty out of the 250 senators will be voted in by fellow applicants and nominees, but they need to get their final approval from the NCPO.

The junta will select the final 50 from a list of 200 candidates who get the highest number of votes from fellow applicants and nominees from eligible organisations.

People who want to become senators can apply directly to be voted on by fellow applicants, to get the first 100 candidates.

Eligible organisations can also nominate their candidates to be voted on by fellow nominees, to get another 100 candidates.

For the first five years, the Senate also is empowered to jointly deliberate with the House of Representatives on any bills deemed to be related to national reform.

The Senate also has the power to veto, at joint meetings of the two Houses, any bill on amnesty during the five-year period.