BANGKOK, 6 May 2015 – The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) says it believes the prospects of holding a public referendum on the new constitution will be clear after the meeting between the country’s five reform bodies. However, in order to do so, the current interim constitution must be amended.
CDC member Buntoon Srethasirote has disclosed that a meeting will be held between the country’s five reform bodies, which are the CDC, the NCPO, the government, the National Legislative Assembly, and the National Reform Council. It will be clear after this meeting whether they will support a public referendum.
According to Mr Buntoon, the current interim charter must be amended to stipulate that a public referendum must be held to approve of the new constitution, adding that the amendment must be proposed under the normal legislative process in Parliament.
In addition, if the public referendum is agreed upon, further discussions will be held on what the public referendum will be about, whether it is the approval of the new charter as a whole or only of certain contentious provisions. The public must then be given a certain amount of time to study the charter, which Mr Buntoon speculates to be 90 days. An organization must also be tasked with educating the public about the new charter.
Nevertheless, Mr Buntoon noted that the new charter must also be approved by the National Reform Council.
