Thais vote on new constitution that could dilute democracy

Preliminary results from Thailand on Sunday indicate voters have said an emphatic “yes” to a new military-backed constitution – a move which critics say will extend the army’s influence well into the future.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who led the 2014 coup as head of the army, cheered the result while lashing out at “inappropriate intervention by foreign elements” in the country’s internal politics.

“Far from being the key step toward the achievement of what the NCPO has termed ‘full and sustainable democracy, ‘ the draft charter creates undemocratic institutions, weakens the power of future elected governments, and is likely to fuel political instability”, the worldwide rights consortium FIDH said in a report August 3, referring to the junta’s official name, the National Council for Peace and Order.

An estimated 50 million eligible voters went to the polls on Sunday, according to the commission.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha cast his vote at a polling station near his residence in the morning. They are particularly opposed to sections that would permit a non-elected prime minister, turn the senate into an appointed body with sitting members of the military and give extra power to the courts.

Analysts say the constitution will allow the military to maintain power in future without the need to stage coups, of which Thailand has seen 12 since 1932.

A general election will be held in 2017 following the approval of the constitution, Prayut said.

With 94 per cent of the votes counted, unofficial results from Thailand’s election commission showed that 61.4 per cent had endorsed the draft Constitution. Senior members of both of Thailand’s major political parties, Pheu Thai and the Democrat Party – traditionally opponents – expressed dissatisfaction with the constitution, claiming it would prolong the junta’s grip on power.

“If you say “yes” to the constitution, it means you agree with the content of the constitution. what makes matters worse is you also give legitimacy to the coup, to the coup makers”, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University in Japan, said Friday.

If the constitution does not pass, what will happen is uncertain, but the military government will remain in control. “The constitution can be used as a device to hold onto political power”. Yes to the draft constitution, and to accepting an appointed, but unelected, Prime Minister.

– Emergency decrees enacted by the junta without any parliamentary consent remain valid.

While approval of the constitution will lead re-installing an elected government, it will be a weaker one than before the coup.

But his rule has also brought a measure of stability and ended the frequent street violence and divisive politics that had frayed Thailand’s social fabric for years. This will be the nation’s 20th constitution in that time and the fifth in a decade.

It was written by a committee appointed by the military junta, tasked with ostensibly tackling corruption and “populism”.

But others believe the draft constitution has a different aim: to weaken allies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the central figure who has roiled Thai politics.

Thaksin easily won every national election since 2001, with the support of working-class and rural voters who benefited from his populist policies. Leading the other side is Thailand’s traditional ruling class and royalists unnerved by Thaksin’s support, especially as it contemplates its future.

“How much or how little freedom of expression will be allowed to the people, we will just have to wait and see”, he said. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose righteous rule has anchored the kingdom since 1946, is 88 and ailing. He has lived overseas since 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction that he says was politically motivated. His sister Yingluck swept to power with an electoral landslide in 2011, and her government was ousted by Prayuth three years later in the 2014 coup.