Thailand’s constitutional outcome evokes the result of the country’s first ever constitutional referendum, in August 2007.
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“The understanding of people on the constitution draft may not be much”, he told reporters. Ms. Yingluck voted Sunday morning and called for all Thais to turn out at the ballot boxes.
The junta imposed severe restrictions in the run-up to the referendum, banning political rallies, independent campaigns and open discussion about the draft constitution.
It says that if approved, the constitution will be a major step towards returning to full democracy.
Some 27.62 million Thais cast ballots in Sunday’s referendum.
A running tally from the Election Commission showed 62 per cent had voted in favour of the charter with 86 per cent of votes counted so far.
Experts have also said the vote serves to confirm or deny the legitimacy of military rule in the country since a coup in 2014. Thai voters have cut some slack for the military in what they see as a special situation.
Results are expected late Sunday evening local time.
Thailand has had a decade of fractured politics and instability that have sometimes spilled over into violence on the streets.
The charter “speaks to a lot of worries and concerns that a majority of Thai people have”, Gothom Areeya, a professor at Thailand’s Mahidol University, told the AP.
Order No. 3/2558: Prohibits “political gatherings of five or more persons” and allows up to six months’ jail for violation.
Some 50 million voters were registered for Sunday’s referendum, but only about 55 percent of them voted, Somchai said.
But was also likely a sign of a population wearied by a seemingly endless cycle of political conflict and inured to the rule of military that has for a decade successfully undercut democractic gains. Almost 58 per cent gave “Yes” vote for the additional question.
However, many Thais and worldwide observers are skeptical of those claims, as the new constitution will cement military rule throughout the country’s governmental institutions.
The upper house will keep elected lawmakers in check, while courts and other watchdog bodies will be given increased powers-despite already being accused of political bias.
The 105-page document gives the ruling junta the power to pick nearly all of the 250 senators during the transitory five-year period.
The new constitution would include a 250-member military-appointed senate along with a 500-member elected House of Representatives.
Two populist prime ministers, Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, were elected with the support of rural, northern voters.
Emergency decrees enacted by the junta without any parliamentary consent remain valid.
“We accept the result of the referendum and will wait and see what happens in the 2017 election”, said Jatuporn Prompan, chairman of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. And if a second measure on the constitution ballot is approved, the country’s military-appointed Senate will play a significant role in choosing the next president. If passed, this would be Thailand’s 20th constitution. The junta set up hand-picked committees to draft a charter that would enshrine its declared goal of reforming politics by eliminating corruption.
Thaksin’s party went on to win the next election, as it has every national poll since 2001.
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Adding to Thailand’s precarious political situation has been the lingering illness of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, who has been hospitalised for more than a year. Protests and counter-protests by the two camps – yellow shirts and red shirts respectively – have rocked Thai politics since 2006 when the military had ousted then PM Thaksin Shinawatra in another coup.
