First referendum will ask public just one question

Views sought on value of amending the constitution

The government committee drafting new guidelines on holding a referendum to find common ground on how the 2017 constitution should be amended has decided to ask only one question in the first of three referenda to be conducted on the charter amendment.

The question is whether or not one agrees with the proposal to amend the constitution, except for Chapters 1 and 2, which deal with general provisions and the King respectively, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told the media in his capacity as chairman of the committee on Tuesday.

The committee is gauging public opinion on the wording in an attempt to defuse social and political conflicts related to another round of changes to the charter.

“This resolution will be forwarded to the cabinet next month or no later than the first quarter of next year,” he said, speaking after a meeting of the committee.

Mr Phumtham said the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition wanted to get the promised charter amendment done and push for an organic law to allow a new general election within this government’s four-year tenure.

The committee also approved a proposal to hold three proposed referenda on the charter amendment, he said.

When endorsed by the cabinet, the first referendum plan will be forwarded to the Election Commission (EC) for implementation in 90 to 120 days after that, he said.

When the first referendum wins approval by the public, the government will seek to amend Section 256 of the current constitution to allow the formation of the new assembly whose composition will be decided in a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, he said.

The cost of forming a new assembly to amend the constitution is estimated to be around 15.7 billion baht, said Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn, citing a study by a senatorial committee which compiled information from the EC and other agencies.

The three referenda will cost 10.5 billion baht, the nationwide election of the assembly 5 billion baht and the salaries of the assembly’s members 200 million baht per year, he said.

Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former election commissioner, and Parit Wacharasindhu, spokesman for the Move Forward Party (MFP), opposed the committee’s resolution, saying leaving Chapters 1 and 2 untouched should never be included in a referendum on the constitution.

Mr Somchai suggested that a more suitable referendum question would be whether the public agrees with the government’s proposal to rewrite the charter with an elected charter drafting assembly.

Mr Parit said to leave these two chapters unchanged is tantamount to barring those groups campaigning for changes to Chapter 2, for instance, from taking part in the charter amendment process.