Reds from Northeast push for CDA

This move is separate from an ongoing signature campaign organised by Pheu Thai MP Sanguan Pongmanee and other mainstream red shirts.
However, the two campaigns are similar in that they are both pushing for the formation of the CDA by amending Article 291 of the Constitution, which gives Parliament the sole mandate to rewrite the charter.
The gist of the people’s motion is that the CDA should comprise 375 members elected by the people, Yiamyod said. The CDA members would then appoint a 49-member panel in charge of drafting charter amendments, he added. The panel should consist of 37 CDA members and 12 leading scholars on law, political science and public administration.
House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont said he would need two or three months to check and verify the signatures before including the people’s motion as legislative agenda. Since the current House session ends in three months, Somsak said he was not sure if the motion could be deliberated upon before the House goes in recess.
He said he was obliged to abide by House procedures regardless of whether the parties concerned saw the issue as urgent or not.
Somsak added that in his opinion, the charter rewrite should not be rushed through before the House committee on reconciliation completes its report, which is expected to be ready in three months.
“The government has promised to amend the charter within a year of assuming office and there is still time,” he said.
Coalition chief whip Udomdej Rattanasatien said the coalition alliance had no intention of amending the lese majeste law, and that it would confine itself to bringing about charter changes via the CDA.
Once the signature campaign led by Sanguan is completed, the charter rewriting process could kick off as early as next month, he said.
The House will likely debate and combine several key drafts on charter change such as those submitted by the Pheu Thai Party, the Chart Thai Pattana Party, the red-shirt movement and the people’s motion before forming the CDA, he said.
In another development, Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha lashed out at the Nitirat academic group for circulating ideas that he deems inappropriate and offensive to the monarchy.
“Thai citizens across the country revere the monarchy, but you are trampling on people’s feelings,” he said in reference to the Nitirat group’s proposals on charter amendments. Prayuth said he believes most academics are loyal to the monarchy but some in the 30-to-40 age group want to fix things even though they have no experience.
Nitirat academics are pushing for the lese majeste law to be amended and also want to revise charter provisions related to the monarchy. One of their proposals is that the Thai head of state should be sworn in to uphold the Constitution before assuming office.