Ombudsmen to ask Constitutional Court to annul referendum act

Ombudsman Office secretary-general Raksagecha Chaechai said after their meeting that the ombudsmen agreed that the second clause of Article 61 under the act could violate the 2014 interim constitution.

The second clause states that those who publicise "harsh", "aggressive" and "seditious" messages in any kinds of media in order to urge voters to vote for or against could be deemed as provoking chaos in the referendum.

“The ombudsmen think the clause was vaguely written and could confuse people. The people may be too afraid to express opinions which is not in line with the referendum purpose,” Raksagecha said, adding that the petition would be submitted to the court by this week.

The petition was earlier lodged to the Ombudsman Office by a group of former senators and high-profile human right advocates on May 10.

The group led by director of Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) Jon Ungpakorn who asked the Ombudsman Office to forward the petition to the Constitutional Court to review second and fourth clauses of Article 61 under the act. The group cited that the act could breach the current charter and limiting human rights as it silences people during the lead-up to the upcoming referendum.