Constitutionalsim and Political Party Design: A Comparative View

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IDS Seminar 2 Poster

Last year, Thailand’s Constitution was amended to change the composition of the house of representatives to 400 constituency MPs and 100 party-list MPs. Over the past weeks, the Thai parliament had discussed and finally voted to reconsider the draft election bill
regarding the formula used to calculate how many votes are needed for a party to earn one party-list MP seat – either calculated by adopting 100 or 500 as the divisor. This issue raises discussion in Thai society about whether bigger or smaller parties would gain or lose. More importantly, it seems to reflect modern phenomena in which constitutional functions can be stretched beyond basic and go onto the public agenda. 

A Constitution, in principle, can determine the allocation and interrelation of powers between three branches of government. The constitution also influences the capacity to represent citizens of any political parties that are subject to it. 

In order to provide space for discussion regarding the constitutional design that makes political parties efficient and sustainable, KAS Thailand, the Institute of Democratization Studies (IDS) and King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI) will organize an online seminar on “Constitutionalism and Political Party Design: A Comparative View” on Monday, August 8th, 2022 at 13:00 – 15:30hrs. The seminar will be held in Thai with translation to English.

To join the online seminar, please click this link for registration: https://forms.gle/2kpux5fCEvYqGt1Q9