Thai charter draft - 'Six months needed for referendum'

[webfact]

CHARTER DRAFT
'Six months needed for referendum'
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- THE NATIONAL Reform Council has proposed at least six months for the whole process of holding a referendum on the draft constitution, a council member said yesterday.

NRC whip secretary Alongkorn Ponlaboot said council president Thienchay Kiranandana had submitted a proposal to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week that a referendum be held and stated how long the whole process should take.

"We think it should take at least six months, as three months might not be sufficient for the distribution of 47 million copies of the draft charter to eligible voters," Alongkorn said.

The NRC also proposed that responsible organisations conduct the referendum inclusively and transparently, he said.

The NRC and Constitution Drafting Committee unanimously agreed last week that a referendum should be held.

Cabinet and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) will hold a joint meeting today and are expected to decide if a referendum should be held on the charter draft.

Prayut insisted yesterday that a national referendum would not be difficult to arrange.

"Holding a national referendum is not hard - how hard could it be? The relevant organisations just propose it to the government, then the government will pass on to the National Legislative Assembly," he said.

When asked about the certainty of a referendum being held, the prime minister replied that he still did not know, but said it must abide by proper processes.

However, Alongkorn said the Cabinet and the NCPO had until August 6 to make a decision, as that date is scheduled for the NRC to approve the final charter draft.

Meanwhile, the NRC yesterday launched an online newspaper, "Voice of Reform", as a way to promote its work.

Thienchay said the council and its moves had hardly been acknowledged by the people although its work had had impacts on them. He said the website could be a communication channel between the NRC and voters in case a referendum on the charter is held.

In related news, the website Prachamati.org conducted a survey asking netizens whether they wanted a referendum on the new constitution. The results showed nearly 94 per cent wanted a referendum.

Some 2,522 Internet users voted on the site, with 2,359 agreeing that there should be a referendum, while only 163 disagreed.

Another question put to readers was whether they agree with how the draft proposes that senators be chosen. Some 1,878 people voted and 82 per cent or 1,636 people said they disagreed with the proposal for senators to be selected from pools of candidates, rather than being elected. Some 239 agreed with the selection proposal.

Asked further if they approved the draft article proposing an "outsider" prime minister who does not have to be a member of the House of Representatives, nearly 91 per cent of 1,933 respondents disagreed with having a PM who had not earned the approval from the people via direct election, while 178 agreed.

Yesterday at Parliament, members of a civic network group in Pathum Thani and Luang Pu Buddha Issara petitioned Thienchay and NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai that reforms be undertaken before an election is held.

The report was forwarded through NRC member Paiboon Nititawan, who is also a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) member. Paiboon said it was becoming clearer that a referendum would be held on the new constitution, "so we should also hold a referendum to ask the people if they want national reform promoted before an election or not to prevent waste of government funds".

Attapon Aroonoros, who led the civic network group, insisted that there were many people in each province who support national reform being pushed through before an election is held. If this did not happen, civic groups would come forward as a movement.

The Election Commission (EC) has estimated that it will cost Bt3 billion to stage a referendum.

Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said the budget would not be as much as arranging a direct election - approximately Bt3 billion or less. But that figure did not include printing copies of the charter draft.

Somchai also voiced concern that people who inform the public about the charter draft should not be members of the EC, because it would suggest the EC was not neutral and the commission had already accepted the draft. He thought the NRC and CDC should be the bodies who inform the people about the draft.

He said the EC would merely be a middleman to hold a forum that gives people a chance to cast their vote on the draft constitution.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Six-months-needed-for-referendum-30260415.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-19

[rametindallas]

This whole referendum will be pointless without free and open national debates published in the newspapers, debated on-line, and on television and radio. Three months to hand out copies and three months to debate sounds adequate. I wonder if it will be like the last military constitution; take it or leave it to us to force another one on you without a referundum. That really wasn't a choice. Since the anti-Thaksin forces drew up the 2007 constitution, why isn't it good enough for the NCPO? Why did they have to create an entirely new constitution? I wish they would go back to the 1997 constitution that was created by people not under duress. Does anyone on the forum know if the 1997 People's Constitution was voted on by the citizenry? I'm pleased that PM Prayut has not publicly taken sides regarding a referendum.

[deckape]

NRC, NCPO, CDC, EC. LOS sure loves a good acronym .

[Srikcir]

This whole referendum will be pointless without free and open national debates published in the newspapers, debated on-line, and on television and radio. Three months to hand out copies and three months to debate sounds adequate. I wonder if it will be like the last military constitution; take it or leave it to us to force another one on you without a referundum. That really wasn't a choice. Since the anti-Thaksin forces drew up the 2007 constitution, why isn't it good enough for the NCPO? Why did they have to create an entirely new constitution? I wish they would go back to the 1997 constitution that was created by people not under duress. Does anyone on the forum know if the 1997 People's Constitution was voted on by the citizenry? I'm pleased that PM Prayut has not publicly taken sides regarding a referendum.

The 1997 draft was approved by the Junta appointed National Assembly with 518 votes for, 16 against, and 17 abstentions. A referendum, called for if the draft was rejected by the National Assembly, was not necessary.

The 2007 draft did go to a referendum and was passed by 51%. Obviously, a constitution requires a much higher vote than a simple majority if there is to be no significant resistence to it as the law of the land. A constitution should require a "super" majority to assure general acceptance by the electorate, ie., 70%.

[naboo]

Those percentages unhappy with the elements of the proposed constitution make for worrying reading if it survives.

[Srikcir]

"He thought the NRC and CDC should be the bodies who inform the people about the draft."

I don't think anyone can view the Junta appointed members in the NRC and CDC, particularly those who are active military officers, as any less nuetral than the EC members. Obviously the NRC and CDC also would have approved the draft and become "stakeholders" in seeing the document remaining unchanged. I would expect they too would present the articles in the best light possible without any resevations as to their content in order to "sell" its passage.

The Thai National Human Rights Commission might be a better presenter of the "pro's" and "cons" of each article.

Note that the draft 2007 Constitution was released for public circulation in July 2007 and was voted on in August 2007, albeit no translation from Thai to Malay was provided to the millions of Malay-Thai voters. It passed by 51%-59%, depending on the source of information. Why now is six months required?

[candide]

Medical forecast?

[rametindallas]

This whole referendum will be pointless without free and open national debates published in the newspapers, debated on-line, and on television and radio. Three months to hand out copies and three months to debate sounds adequate. I wonder if it will be like the last military constitution; take it or leave it to us to force another one on you without a referundum. That really wasn't a choice. Since the anti-Thaksin forces drew up the 2007 constitution, why isn't it good enough for the NCPO? Why did they have to create an entirely new constitution? I wish they would go back to the 1997 constitution that was created by people not under duress. Does anyone on the forum know if the 1997 People's Constitution was voted on by the citizenry? I'm pleased that PM Prayut has not publicly taken sides regarding a referendum.

The 1997 draft was approved by the Junta appointed National Assembly with 518 votes for, 16 against, and 17 abstentions. A referendum, called for if the draft was rejected by the National Assembly, was not necessary.

The 2007 draft did go to a referendum and was passed by 51%. Obviously, a constitution requires a much higher vote than a simple majority if there is to be no significant resistence to it as the law of the land. A constitution should require a "super" majority to assure general acceptance by the electorate, ie., 70%.

Wow. I give you and opportunity to contribute something positive and truthful and you use the opportunity to be selective with the truth so as to twist the facts. The 1997 constitution was written by people elected by the voters and had input from the public in its writing. I can find no mention of a "Junta appointed National Assembly". Perhaps you have a link?

The 1997 Constitution was the first constitution to be drafted by popularly-elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly, hence was popularly called the "People's Constitution"

The 1996 amendment called for the creation of an entirely new constitution by a special committee outside the National Assembly. The Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) was formed with 99 members: seventy-six of them directly elected from each of the provinces and 23 qualified persons short-listed by the Parliament from academia and other sources. Anand Panyarachun, Premier in 1991 under the military regime, was selected as a member of the CDA and appointed Chairman of the Drafting Committee.... A process of public consultation took place on a nation-wide basis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Constitution_of_Thailand

constitution of Thailand enacted on 11 October 1997 under the administration of PM General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. He got to be PM the same was as Abhisit became PM; through a House of Representatives resolution (the same as the three PMs before him). He resigned less than a month later because of the Asian Financial Crisis and succeeded by Chuan Leekpai. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Thailand By the way, General Chavalit garnered a huge amount of world-wide popular press as he was the first general to become PM through elections.In the 1990s he was lionized by the foreign press as the great example of the future of Thai politics. Unlike previous Thai generals, who entered politics through coups, Chavalit was one Thai commander-in-chief who became prime minister by leading a political party and winning an election. Unfortunately, his ineptitude in managing the economy sparked the baht collapse of 1997 and the ensuring worldwide financial panic.

[TheAppletons]

Medical forecast?

(Insert mortality reference here.)