Charter backed by Thai junta is rejected

BANGKOK, Thailand (UPDATED) – A council appointed by Thailand’s junta Sunday, September 6, rejected a draft constitution, a move expected to delay a return to democracy following last year’s military coup.

Critics had pilloried the document as divisive, anti-democratic and aimed at prolonging military rule.

But its rejection in a vote by the National Reform Council (NRC) means the painstaking process of drafting a charter will have to start again, potentially pushing back the timetable for elections to 2017.

Of the 240 NRC members who voted, 135 were against the document and 105 in favor.

“Those in favor were less than half of NRC members, it means this NRC meeting has voted against” the charter, NRC chairman Tienchai Kiranan said in a televised count.

The army seized power from an elected government in May last year, promising to calm the country after years of street protests and acrimony by political rivals.

The junta has said a new charter – Thailand’s 20th since it abandoned absolute monarchy in 1932 – holds the key to bridging those divides before democratic elections can be restored, provisionally in mid-late 2016.

For years the kingdom has been split between pro-democracy supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s populist parties and a conservative, royalist elite backed by the military and judiciary.

Shinawatra-backed parties have won every election since 2001 but have been ousted by two coups and seen the removal of 3 prime ministers by the courts.

Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by a court shortly before the May 2014 coup toppled the remnants of her administration.

Election delay

Opponents of the charter see it as a blatant attempt permanently to entrench the military’s political power and say it would prevent genuine democracy from taking root.

They point to Section 260 that allows the military to replace any elected government with an appointed 22-member “crisis” panel at any time in the five years after the charter is enacted – if unrest or political deadlock, as the military sees it, requires such a move.

The panel would be stacked with military top brass and other unelected officials, effectively guaranteeing the army’s grip on power.

Ahead of Sunday’s vote the toppled Peau Thai party labelled the charter “dictatorial” saying it would destroy democracy and plunge the kingdom into even “deeper political polarization”.

But analysts say the vote to reject it is also politically helpful for the junta as it sets back the date for a return to civilian rule.

The junta now has a month to appoint a new charter drafting committee.

“They (committee) will then draft a new charter within 180 days and then it will go to a national referendum,” NRC member Paiboon Nititawan told Agence France-Presse.

“It will delay elections about 6 or 7 months,” he added.

The junta had slated elections for the second half of 2016 and any delay will dismay many of its opponents.

They accuse the military of failing to galvanize the economy and overseeing a marked decline in human rights since the coup, with dissent quickly stamped out and civilians facing trial in military courts.

The chairman of the “Red Shirt” street movement that is aligned with the Shinawatra family said the charter was doomed to failure.

“If they (the NRC) had passed it, it would have been voted down by the people at a referendum anyway,” Jatuporn Prompan told Agence France-Presse.

Sunday’s vote also comes at a time of growing uncertainty about the country’s future once the reign of ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, comes to an end.

The king, who endorsed May’s coup but has no official political role, is seen as a unifying figure in the bitterly divided nation.

The royal family is shielded from criticism by a harsh defamation law. The coup has seen a surge of convictions and arrests for lese majeste, including a man jailed last month for a record 30 years. – Aidan Jones, AFP / Rappler.com