Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Thursday also criticised the military-backed draft constitution as a “folly” that would perpetuate the power of the ruling junta and make it impossible for future elected governments to rule.
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“I urge everyone to come out and vote.to decide on the future of the country”, Prayuth told reporters at a polling station in northwest Bangkok.
Thai officers show an empty box before the start of vote in a referendum on a new constitution at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016.
The military junta which took power after a coup in 2014 called for the Constitution to be rewritten to ensure “clean politics” in the country.
If the charter passes, the transition back to civilian rule will likely be smooth.
“In occasions that rare Pokemons emerge in any polling station, please stop playing it near these stations”, Xinhua news agency quoted Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a member of the Election Commission, as saying.
Posters and billboards across the country urge citizens to go to the polls Sunday, but nearly all public debate about the proposed constitution have been muzzled.
They will be empowered to set their own ethical standards that will have to be applicable to members of the lower house and can impeach any MPs who are considered to have failed to meet such standards.
The constitution would put so much power in the hands of bodies tasked with acting as counter-balances to governments that it would make Thailand ungovernable, Thaksin said.
The Election Commission has banned campaigning for or against the draft constitution.
The 2007 military-drafted charter gained over 57% approval, with 58% of those eligible voting. Such arrangements, combined with other provisions on elections in the constitution that many observers believe will result in many smaller parties contesting power in the lower house, would make the appointed Senate incredibly powerful.
Politicians, academics and rights groups say otherwise. A certain number of seats are assigned by proportional representation based on the second result, but winning more constituency seats outright would limit the number of additional seats the party can obtain through proportional representation.
A defeat for the draft constitution would signal a lack of confidence in the current military government. It would then have to consider revisions and future options for adoption – which might not include a further referendum.
The government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired general and head of junta, used its sweeping powers to ban political rallies, independent campaigns against the draft constitution and virtually no debates on it.
If the constitution is given a green light, it would add legitimacy to the military government, serving as “infrastructure” for the military and the traditional elite to continue to dominate politics.
Polls opened at 8am (01:00 GMT) on Sunday offering Thais the first chance to vote since generals toppled a democratically elected government in 2014.
Yingluck was found guilty by a military-appointed legislatureof mismanaging a rice scheme and is embroiled in an ongoing criminal negligence trial.
“A move by the opposition United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) to open ‘referendum monitoring centers” was met with a threat of arrest.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, former prime minister and leader of the Yellow-Shirt aligned Democrats has broken ranks and advocated for a no vote.
Rangsit University economist Anusorn Tamajai said if both referendum questions win a majority “Yes” vote, conflicts could be anticipated, mainly due to a constitutional clause that allows a non-MP to become prime minister.
The change means military-appointed lawmakers would have a majority over elected leaders in the National Assembly of Thailand.
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Foreign investors are watching political developments with particular interest. Foremost among these are some 4,500 Japanese companies which had invested around 6.2 trillion yen ($61.3 billion) in Thailand by the end of 2015 – the highest national figure for the emerging economies of Southeast Asia, and more than double that for Indonesia.
