Public Participation Emphasized for Charter Amendments

(17/12/2012)

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has stressed the need for full public participation in charter amendments, saying that the move to change the 2007 Constitution was meant to find solutions for the country. The Prime Minister touched on the issue of constitutional amendments in the program “Yingluck Government Meets the People,” broadcast on Radio Thailand and NBT Television on 15 December 2012. She explained that the Government wanted to bring about peace and happiness and to move the country forward. So she had assigned the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice to seek ways to organize public hearings and a national referendum in order to ensure public participation in charter amendments. Parliament President Somsak Kiatsuranont earlier decided to delay the third reading of the government-sponsored charter amendment bill, after the Constitution Court ruled that a wholesale charter rewrite without a public referendum would be unconstitutional. The bill seeks to amend Section 291 of the charter to make way for the establishment of a constitution drafting assembly to rewrite the 2007 Constitution. The Government’s working group assigned to study constitutional amendments in early December 2012 agreed to go ahead with the vote of the bill in its third reading. Later, the coalition partners agreed that a national referendum on constitutional amendments should be held before the third reading of the bill. Prime Minister Yingluck said, in her weekly program, that it was the duty of Parliament to consider the third reading. The Government wanted to create a process of public participation, so that the constitution would be accepted by the majority of the populace. The organizing of public hearings is one way to create better understanding about the charter change among the public. She pointed out that the national referendum is also a mechanism in the democratic system to ensure the acceptance of the constitution by the people. The Government is ready to support this mechanism for national unity. The Prime Minister said that she did not want people to be concerned about problems that might arise from this issue. The Government believed that the process of the public referendum is a solution for the country before the vote in the third reading by parliamentarians. The third reading will be involved with the establishment of a constitution drafting assembly to rewrite the 2007 Constitution. As the public referendum would take time, the Prime Minister said that the Government had no urgent timeframe for charter amendments. She emphasized that the Government wanted the people to fully participate and whatever the results would be, it was willing to accept them.