Pheu Thai to go ahead with referendum

Noppadol Pattama, a legal advisor of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and chairman of the meeting of the Pheu Thai strategic panel, said the Pheu Thai clearly decided to push for a writing of a new charter via referendum holding. He said the party would not push for amendments of certain articles as a contingent plan because it would cause public confusions.

“The party will step up all out efforts to campaign for public referendum. Although some party members are worried that the voter turnout will be less than 23 or 23 million, I believe we still have three to four months to campaign for the people to exercise their voting right,” Noppadol said.

He said the party had conducted an opinion survey and found that up to 60 per cent of eligible voters would come out to vote in the referendum.

But Thida Thavornset, the chairwoman of the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said if the referendum somehow flopped, opponents of charter amendments might claim that the people do not want the 2007 Constitution to be changed.

The government has announced its plan to hold a public referendum before the Parliament would deliberate the bill, which seeks to amend Article 291, in the third and final reading.