Debate on Constitution bill scheduled for Feb 23
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The House will on February 23 debate the government-sponsored bill to amend the Constitution, Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranont said on Thursday.
The House will on February 23 debate the government-sponsored bill to amend the Constitution, Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranont said on Thursday.
“I believe the charter drafted by the people should be better than that sponsored by a dictatorship,” he said, referring to the 2007 Constitution promulgated in the wake of 2006 coup.
The bill is expected to pave way for the formation of the Constitution Drafting Assembly to take charge of the charter rewrite.
Under draft provisions, the CDA will have 99 seats, 77 of which will be filled by elected members representing each province with 22 to be appointed from a pool of academics.
The CDA composition and mandate will be similar to the assembly responsible for the writing of the 1997 charter.
The preparations to form the CDA will likely take two months and the writing process should be completed within the 180-day deadline. The writing will factor in the opinions solicited via public hearings and the final draft will be put for a referendum vote.
