The ruling Pheu Thai Party has denied a rumour that it is seeking to scrap the party-list electoral system as part of a strategic plan to defeat the increasingly popular Move Forward Party (MFP) in the next election.
Noppadon Pattama, a Pheu Thai list MP, said he had never heard of such a plan and that the party had never discussed it.
He was responding to a remark by Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, who said on Friday that she was informed by someone from Pheu Thai that the party's charter amendment proposals would include scrapping the party-list system while retaining the constituency method of election, so the total number of MPs elected in the constituencies would be 500. This is part of the strategy being laid out, which is aimed at beating the MFP in the next election, according to Khunying Sudarat, who quoted a Pheu Thai source.
The MFP is growing in popularity, judging from an opinion poll by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) in March. MFP chief adviser Pita Limjaroenrat was picked as the most suitable candidate for the premiership by 42.75% of respondents, up from 39.4% in the previous poll. He was ahead of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from Pheu Thai, who was endorsed by 17.75% of survey respondents, down from 22.35% in a December poll.
"I am surprised by this rumour. It is unlikely that the party will only propose section-by-section charter amendments to scrap the party-list system... The party is now focusing on amending the charter to establish a charter drafting assembly to draw up a new constitution," said Mr Noppadon, a former foreign affairs minister.
He also said that any proposal to scrap the party-list system would be met with fierce resistance from opposition MPs and the caretaker senators.
"Don't waste time discussing it. Such a proposal never existed," he said.
Nikorn Chamnong, director of the Chartthaipattana Party and secretary to a committee studying the charter referendum, also dismissed the rumour as baseless, saying that the current systems are already suitable.
The MFP won the most seats in the general election last year, with 151 MPs -- 112 from constituencies and 39 from the party list, while Pheu Thai won 141 House seats -- 112 from constituencies and 29 from the party list.
In the party-list race, the MFP grabbed more than 14 million votes, winning in almost all of the country's 77 provinces.
