THE RECALL LOCAL COUNCIL MEMBERS AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATORS.

บทคัดย่อ

The constitution regulate that citizens have the right to sign a petition to recall of Local Council Members or Local Administrators if citizens believe that local council members and local administrators are no longer suitable to be in their positions. This recall is regulate in the Act on Voting for the recall of Local Council Members or Local Administrators, B.E. 2542 (1999). However, this implementation still has some significant problems: First, there is the problem of the principle for recalling local council members and local administrators, including their concordance with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand BE 2560 as the principle for recall is different from the constitution BE 2540 and 2550, by eliminating the voting method. The determination of the number of signatures to initiate the recall process and the number of votes are inappropriate, making the recall too difficult to complete. The law does not clearly specify the grounds for recall. This may be unfair to the person who is removed from position, and law does not provide penalties for dishonest petition that sign the rercall process which could lead to political harassment. Second, there is a problem in the process of recalling local council members and local administrators, in case of each local council member comes from a different electoral district, but when they are recalled, they have to receive votes from all electoral districts in that local administrative organization, which is inappropriate. Also, the determination of the number of votes must receive votes from no less than three-quarters of voters who come to vote, is also inappropriate under the condition that the number of voters at that time must not be less than half of the total number of voters in that local government organization in order that the recall will be successful. It can be seen that the recall of local council members and local administrators under the law is too difficult to complete. Therefore, the Act on Voting for the recall of Local Council Members or Local Administrators, B.E. 2542 (1999). should be amended to specify the proportion of people signing to initiate the recalling process and clearly state the reasons for recalling in the law, including penalties for dishonest petition that sign the recall process, and reconsidering the proportion of votes to recall local council members and local administrators, and taking into account the source of votes to be appropriate for each type of local administrative organization.