'Six months needed for referendum'

“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.