The opposition People’s party submitted its constitutional amendments draft bill to the House of Representatives today, seeking to amend Chapter 15 of the Constitution to pave way for the crafting of a new charter by a 35-member committee.
People’s party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said today that he hopes that both the Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai parties will submit their own constitutional amendments draft bills to the House this week.
He said that his party’s draft is the first step towards the holding of the first of three referenda, to seek public consent on the writing and acceptance of a new charter, which should take place simultaneously with the holding of a general election after the House dissolution, which is expected no later than four months of the delivery of the new government’s policy statement to parliament by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
The People’s party has dropped its original plan for a 200-member elected people’s assembly to craft a new charter, after the Constitutional Court ruled that parliament cannot let the people directly elect representatives to write a new charter.
To avoid a clash with the Constitutional Court, the People’s party has proposed two options regarding the charter writing panel.
The first is a 35-member charter writing committee, selected from 70 candidates elected by the people and then shortlisted to 35 by parliament.
The second option is for the creation of a charter writing advisory committee of 100 members, whose responsibility would be to collect public opinions on the charter writing and to compile a report to a 100-member drafting committee elected by the people.
Natthaphong said that the charter writing panel will have 270 days to complete crafting a new charter, to be presented to parliament. Then, a referendum will be held to seek public’s consent on the new charter.
He insisted that the party remains committed to the principle that the people should have a say in the writing of a new charter.
