Drafting of new charter after referendum may take three years: Pheu Thai
Pheu Thai Party’s acting leader, Chusak Sirinil, said on Thursday that it could take three years to write a new constitution after the majority of the public gives it a go-ahead in a referendum.
Chusak, who heads Pheu Thai’s legal team, said his party would present to the Cabinet a request to approve the holding of a referendum with the question: “Do you agree to have a new constitution drafted by a constitution drafting assembly whose members will be elected by the people?”
Chusak said the Cabinet would then deliberate on whether to adjust or amend the question.
Once the Cabinet resolves to hold the referendum, the Election Commission must hold it within 90 days or not later than 120 days, Chusak said.
Chusak did not say when Pheu Thai would submit the matter to the Cabinet. But on Monday, former Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew gave a promise to the Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw) that the Cabinet would deliberate holding the referendum in its first meeting.
iLaw has also repeatedly called for its version of question: “Will you agree that Parliament must amend the whole version of the 2017 Constitution via members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly who must be elected by the people?” to be used in the referendum
Chusak said if the majority of voters support the writing of a new charter, Parliament must amend Article 256 of the 2017 charter to add a provision that would require a new charter to be written by the CDA.
Once the amendment is passed, a new CDA would be elected, Chusak explained.
He expected the entire process of drafting and enacting a new charter by the CDA to take up to three years.
He added that if the public supports the rewriting of the charter via the referendum, MPs and senators must amend Article 256 accordingly.
Chusak said Pheu Thai does not support Move Forward’s proposal to have the House of Representatives resolve to amend Article 256 because the process would take longer than having the Cabinet issue a resolution.
Chusak said the resolution of MPs would have to be endorsed by the Senate and it could take time. Senators, who were mostly appointed by the 2014 coup leaders, are known to be against the writing of a new charter.
Chusak said the referendum did not have to go into details by adding that Chapter 1 on the definition of the Thai state and Chapter 2 on the monarchy must be left intact when a new charter is drafted.
He explained that Article 255 of the current charter already prohibits changes to the first two chapters.
