Results 'suggest people back military role in govt'

Parinya Thewanarumitkul, a law lecturer at Thammasat University who was formerly a student leader, said the vote results seemed to show that people were weary of political upheaval seen before the military coup of 2014.

“The voters are tired of the conflict of interest and a democracy rife with conflicts,” he said.

Sukhum Nuansakul, a political analyst and former rector of Ramkhamhaeng University, said the referendum results indicated that Thai people had accepted the military-led government. 

He said the voters had given the military a role in forming the next government. “It seems people consider the prime minister as a good leader.”

He added that the people loved Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha because he could keep the country “peaceful” and “in order”. 

Importantly, Thais are bored with politics and they do not believe their “once-favourite” politicians, Sukhum said. 

The veteran scholar said that though leaders of two major parties – former premier Yingluck Shinawatra of Pheu Thai and Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva – had clearly announced their rejection of the draft, the people did not follow them.

Abhisit yesterday said he accepted the vote results and asked all the parties involved to do the same.

He said the focus should now be on the government’s road map for the next election to be held within 2017.

As of press time last night, when about 95 per cent of the ballots were counted, 61.4 per cent were “Yes” votes and 38.6 per cent “No”.

On the question of whether senators should be allow to select a prime minister, 58.1 per cent voted “Yes” and 41.9 per cent “No”.

All regions of the country except the Northeast supported both questions, according to provisional results provided by the Election Commission.

The widest margin was in the South, where “Yes” votes outnumbered “No” votes by 77 per cent to 23 per cent to approve the draft constitution. In the Northeast, 52 per cent of voters disapproved of the draft compared to 48 per cent who approved of it, while 55.5 per cent voted “No” for senators selecting a PM and 44.5 per cent voted “Yes”.

In Bangkok, 69 per cent or 1.3 million voters accepted the draft and 30 per cent or 596,820 rejected the draft.

Meanwhile, opponents of the draft charter including the Pheu Thai Party, questioned the legitimacy of the referendum, as voter turnout was low.

Yesterday’s turnout was about 58 per cent, when 94 per cent of the cast ballots had been counted, according to Election Commission member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn. This compared with 57 per cent in the previous referendum on the charter draft of 2007.

Pheu Thai Party executives yesterday said voters approved the draft because they wanted an election to be held early. They said voter turnout this time was low or around 50 per cent. It was lower than the previous referendum in 2007 which was 57 per cent, party secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai said.

“It’s a pity that we get a less democratic charter than the previous one, but the country has to move on,” he said. 

He said the party would continue to fight for democracy but refused to say whether they will run in an election under a charter they oppose. 

Leaders of the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) blamed the Election Commission and the NCPO for the low voter turnout. They said the authorities created an “atmosphere of fear”.

Red-shirt leaders Jatuporn Promphan and Nattawut Saikua said they accepted the result but would continue to fight for democracy.

Constitution Drafting Commission chairman Meechai Ruchupan held a press conference to thank Thais for voting to accept the charter draft while urging them to forget what happened during the referendum process.

He said any hurtful words that some people directed at the CDC or the CDC made against them should be forgotten, so that all parties could move forward following the passage of the charter draft at the referendum.

He said it would take around three or four months for the referendum to take effect.

The CDC, he said, drafted the charter to help solve the country’s problems, and by coming out and voting for it meant the people have accepted the proposals.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged people to accept the results of yesterday’s vote.

Prayut thanked Thais for coming out in great numbers to vote, Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd. 

“The prime minister is ready to accept the vote result and he asks all the parties to accept the people’s decision,” the spokesman said. Prayut also reiterated that the government would follow the road map.

The prime minister will hold an informal meeting of the Cabinet today to discuss the referendum result, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said. The meeting will gather opinions before discussing them in a joint meeting between the Cabinet and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) tomorrow. 

Meanwhile, the EC yesterday rejected the legitimacy of referendum observers from the US Embassy in Thailand, saying the embassy had failed to notify the EC headquarters beforehand.

The US embassy assigned at least three officials to unofficially observe the procedures in Nakhon Si Thammarat, where they went to observe the voting material distribution centre in Muang district and also several polling booths in the province.

The Nation has learnt that the embassy sent its officials to observe other provinces as well.

Embassy spokesperson Melissa Sweeney told The Nation that the embassy had made the provincial ECs aware of their observation plan and measures prior to the voting date.

“The meeting between the US mission personnel and provincial Election Commissioners were arranged and agreed to in advance in order to provide unofficial observers with information about the referendum process,” Sweeney said.

The EC source also said that the embassy sent a letter to the EC on their request, asking the observation not to be officially facilitated.

However, the Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuttiyakorn said that the EC headquarter never learnt of the embassy’s activities prior to yesterday and it was inappropriate for the embassy to directly approach the provincial ECs. “They should notify us first,” Somchai said.

The Foreign Ministry cannot be immediately reached for comments.