Delayed Charter Amendments by Pheu Thai Party Stir Controversy

[webfact]

File photo

 

Thailand's Pheu Thai Party's pledge to devise a people-oriented constitution incorporating a public referendum, an elected assembly, and respecting the country's constitutional monarchy is yet to materialise seven months into governance.

 

The party initially spent time under the supervision of the Commerce Minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, investigating the design of a referendum for charter modification. Still, any notable progress or decisions remained unannounced until recently.

 

Despite the bill to amend the constitutional clause being submitted to Parliament, it failed to make it to the agenda, culminating in an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

 

In April, the Court rejected the appeal, standing by its earlier decision that a charter rewrite cannot proceed without a preliminary referendum.

 

According to Nikorn Chamnong, head of the sub-panel gleaning opinions, the goal is to democratise the charter without overhauling existing chapters. After the Court's dismissal of the appeal, the decision lies back with the government.

 

Once Cabinet approval is secured, the issue will progress to the Election Commission, which must act within 90 days.

Even with foreseeable challenges, Nikorn remains optimistic about completing the charter reformation before the current House's tenure concludes. He expects the first referendum to occur this year or next, with a charter drafting assembly likely to be launched before 2026.

 

However, Nutthawut Buaprathum of the opposition Move Forward Party remains sceptical about the government's commitment to push forward the process. He has called for the publication of the committee’s reports for transparency and collaboration with parliament to place the amendment bills on the agenda.

 

-- 2024-04-29

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[mfd101]

Be wery carepul, Bro. One slop o da tung and LM.

[dinsdale]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

devise a people-oriented constitution

Nup!

3 hours ago, webfact said:

an elected assembly

Not representative and also 50 of Prayut's junta appointed sentators will remain.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

respecting the country's constitutional monarchy

Definitely!

I think one could add maintaining the status quo of the miltary elite. This will be a definite. 

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand's Pheu Thai Party's pledge to devise a people-oriented constitution incorporating a public referendum, an elected assembly, and respecting the country's constitutional monarchy is yet to materialise seven months into governance.

Yet another failed promise.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Nup!

Not representative and also 50 of Prayut's junta appointed sentators will remain.

Definitely!

I think one could add maintaining the status quo of the miltary elite. This will be a definite. 

Apparently the toad might be making a reappearance.

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

the Court rejected the appeal, standing by its earlier decision that a charter rewrite cannot proceed without a preliminary referendum.

That didn't 't happen when the junta NCPO wrote the 2014 Interim Charter after it abolished the 2007 Constitution.

Regarding the 2019 draft constitution also written by the junta leadership, it was completed in full prior to the referendum.

Because it was illegal to publicly debate the draft, few Thais I believe really understood what the significance and impact the draft would have on their lives.

As a result I believe the referendum was mostly directed towards a couple novel changes from previous constitutions such as the election of a PM who was not a member of the House and allowing the unelected Senate (then entirely appointed by the junta) to vote in conjunction with the House for PM.

While the referendum accepted all the junta's new version by a majority of votes cast, it was not accepted by the majority of registered voters. As I recall the Election Commission suggested that passing the referendum be based on majority of registered voters by overruled by the junta. 

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

respecting the country's constitutional monarchy

Isn't that embedded in Thai culture and tradition? As such a constitution might be unnecessary to that end. A similar case arose with drafting the 2014 Interim Charter wherein some pro-junta Buddhist leadership wanted to make Buddhism the official state religion. As I recall, the junta response was that Buddhism was already deeply embedded in Thai culture and state sponsored that it didn't need the protection of a constitution.

And that to me really begs the question of the purpose in general of any constitution (North Korea, Russia, Iran and China have one) and specifically the 34 constitutional monarchies (as of 2023) in the world as to their degree of representing the power of democratic sovereign citizens, if that was ever the intent.

Where constitutions define the legal authority of sovereign citizens through their power of elections, legislation and referendums, it stands to follow that the authority of the monarchy would be similarly defined, ie., through elected officials and public approval. There was no such power for example within an absolute monarchy as existed in Thailand prior to the military overthrow in 1932.

To summarize, the electorate must have complete understanding, open debate and freedom of speech as to the endorsement of any kind of constitution for it defines their society, rights and future.