‘Prits’ prepares to ask for clarity on the policy to amend the constitution, will the referendum question remain the same or not? What is the roadmap? Will the Constituent Assembly come from 100% election or not? Hopes that the government will proceed with drafting a new version, in parallel, amending each section in time to enforce the ‘election in 70’.
Mr. Panusaya Wacharasindhu, MP for the Prachachon Party, talked about the government’s constitutional amendment policy, saying that if we compare the statement document with the previous government of Mr. Settha Thavisin, there may be some changes, but overall, the text talks about issues in a broad manner. Therefore, for clarity, we will ask more questions in more detail. He also emphasized that the constitutional amendment must be done in 2 parallel ways: Approach 1: Drafting a new constitution that has democratic legitimacy as soon as possible. It must be admitted that the government’s roadmap that was set out was to hold 3 referendums, but the first rou
nd has not yet happened. When calculated, there may be a risk that there will not be a new constitution enforced along with the organic laws in time for the 2027 election. Therefore, we question how the roadmap has been set and how to proceed with the first round of referendum by asking the public, ‘Should a new constitution be drafted?’ and whether they will still confirm the questions proposed by the committee chaired by Mr. Phumtham Vejjajiva, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. We see that this is creating 2 questions in the same question, which may create confusion in voting. Previously, there was a call for the government of Mr. Settha to reconsider, and we have to wait and see whether the stance of the government of Ms. Paethongtarn will confirm the original question or adjust the wording to be more open and clear. In addition, we have to see whether the government will propose or support having 100% elected members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA).
Mr. Parit added that the secon
d approach is to amend each section. We are not saying that we need to amend instead of drafting a new constitution, but we believe that drafting a new constitution will take 1-2 years or more. Therefore, we believe that if there is an urgent need to amend any section or issue in the 2017 constitution, we should propose to amend each section.
Mr. Parit said that the Prachachon Party has already proposed 3 drafts, all of which aim to erase the consequences of the coup, including the cancellation of Section 279, preventing coups, and the cancellation of the 20-year national strategy. There will be a joint parliamentary meeting, which is expected to be on September 25. From the meeting of the three whips, there was a discussion that if any party wants to propose a draft amendment to the constitution on other issues, they can submit it.
Are you concerned that there will be a delay that will prevent the establishment of the Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution? Mr. Parit said that if looking at the b
ig picture, he has no problem with anything. But what the Prachachon Party has always insisted is that the devil is in the details. The question is, who will draft the People’s Constitution? Will it come from a Constituent Assembly that comes from an election 100%? And finally, what is the government’s roadmap for us to have a new constitution that can be enforced in time for the 2027 election? Does it also support the amendment of urgent items?
Mr. Parit added that the final answer from the Prachachon Party to the government is that they want a clear roadmap from today until the day of the new constitution. What is the timeframe? Because it is something that the government of Mr. Settha promised. Will there be a review of the first round of referendum questions? And will there be 100% elected MPs? Including amending the constitution by article, it must be detailed in each issue. But on September 25, we will see. The position and attitude of the members, both government MPs and the new senators, on amending
the constitution.
As for the review of the powers and duties of the Constitutional Court and independent organizations that have been expanded in scope, compared to the previous constitution, it is certain that the expanded powers include many parts, such as the dissolution of political parties in the Organic Act on Political Parties and the newly added ethical powers in the 2017 constitution. In the past, there has been an exchange of opinions from all parties, but which side will propose the draft amendment to the law and whether it will be in time for the 25th of September, we will have to wait and see.
As for whether the People’s Party will propose any additional drafts, there will have to be discussions within the party first. However, if there will be a proposal on 25 September, it will have to be done in a short period of time so that it can be put on the agenda in time. We believe that we would like to see more discussions on amending each section in parallel with the drafting of the new constitutio
n. If anyone has issues that they would like to address, which may not be on 25 September, we hope that there will be an agenda for the parliamentary meeting to consider additional matters on another day.
Source: Thai News Agency