Elections paused since 2014 coup
City Hall provides asked a House standing up committee to seek an immediate return of polls for Bangkok district councillors which were placed on hold following the 2014 coup.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt attended a meeting yesterday with the House committee on strength decentralisation, local management and special management to discuss the resumption of district council elections.
The Bangkok council earlier resolved to bring them back but their immediate resumption requires amending laws. Mr Chadchart convinced the panel in order to request that parliament go ahead with the change.
Mr Chadchart said he or she told the House committee that Bangkok town councillors are working alone to gauge residents’ problems and urban issues. There are not enough of them so they need assistance from district councillors.
At the moment, so-called civic community members are designated to take on the job opportunities of district councillors. However , they are not selected and were frequently chosen by region chiefs.
Residents want to choose their own representatives who are able to respond to their requirements and ease nearby problems, the governor said.
Since City Hall is powerless in order to amend laws, most of it can do will be propose changes to the City Administrative Code Operate, which would allow the district council elections to become restored.
“The House panel will communicate Town Hall’s proposal to parliament, ” Mr Chadchart said.
The work was one of the laws published in the Royal Gazette on April 16, 2019.
The idea of reinstating the region council elections was raised at the Bangkok town council meeting upon July 6.
The 2014 military coup ordered the elections of Bangkok governor, town councillor and district councillors be suspended.
After eight years, the governor and town councillor polls had been held on Might 22 while the elections of district councillors remain in limbo.
Under the 2019 act, there can be more than one city councillor representing a district.
Also, the law stipulates that district council elections will be halted until laws related to national strategies and reforms are working. Such a legislative process could take years.
In past times, the national reform steering committee recommended district councillors might be dispensable, given their limited authority.
Their function, in providing consultancy on district developments to a district main and the Bangkok council, could be covered by the city councillors who report to the Bangkok authorities, it said.
The panel pointed to an issue of interest — while district councillors can distribute development finances in their localities, town councillors, have the duty to disburse this kind of funds.