Referendum organised before and after charter rewrite: Ukrit
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The Independent National Rule of Law Commission on Wednesday issued a statement calling for a new charter modelled after the suspended 1974 charter and two referendum votes before and after charter rewrite.
“Parliament should abandon the third reading of the charter amendment bill in order to hold the referendum on the issue,” NRLC chairman Ukrit Mongkolnavin said.
Ukrit said the referendum should be organised twice, one before commencing the rewriting of the charter and another to seek the people’s endorsement after completing the drafting process.
In the first referendum, the government should frame the question in such a way as to offer the voters an alternate choice in case of discarding the 2007 Constitution, he said.
If the referendum question was merely about the charter without an alternative, then the voters would be left in the dark on what they would get as a replacement of the Constitution, he said.
He suggested that the 1974 charter should be offered as the alternative since it was seen as the most democratic and liberal basic law.
Should the people agree to the overhual of the political system, the new charter would then emulate provisions in the 1974 charter. The new charter should be drafted by a panel formed by the Cabinet before being vetted in Parliament.
The drafting panel should include MPs, senators and appointed members from a pool of academics and professionals.
The charter draft would be subjected to the referendum vote before coming into effect.
The drafting process and two referendum votes should complete within 15 months.
