Though it contains strong provisions on healthcare and education, people have different opinions regarding its contents about the national assembly, the election of a new prime minister, the constitutional court, and anti-corruption mechanism.
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Campaigning and debate on the merits of the draft constitution has been effectively outlawed by the military government, which came to power as a result of a coup in 2014.
A companion ballot measure would give the military junta the authority to fill the Senate with its appointees and give the Senate power to choose a prime minister.
Members of the media film a screen displaying partial results of the referendum at the Office of the Election Commission on Sunday. “There is no reconciliation if one group says “Lets reconcile on our terms”, he told Reuters ahead of the referendum. But ultimately they will have their say, as Thailand’s record of elections and popular rule has shown time and again. “All sides must now help move the country forward”.
The post Thailand seeks stability, approves military constitution appeared first on The Nation Nigeria. Though the EC predicted a turnout as high as 70 percent, this referendum reported a turnout even lower than the 2007 charter referendum, with only 55 percent out of 50.5 million eligible voters going to the polls compared to 2007’s 57.6 percent.
Analysts have said that many people – although objecting to the power that the referendum affords the military – voted yes out of fear of the political stalemate that would thus ensue if it were not passed. According to the BBC, dozens were detained for campaigning against the document.
Thaksin easily won every national election since 2001, with the support of working-class and rural voters who benefited from his populist policies. The government of his sister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed in the 2014 coup. He remains equally adored by voters in the poor, agrarian north and northeast and reviled by the Bangkok elites, who accuse him of being a risky and corrupt demagogue. He went into exile overseas in 2008. Yingluck is on trial for criminal negligence in managing government rice subsidies for poor farmers.
The vote comes amidst concern about the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88.
A military-backed constitution has been approved by voters in Thailand, which deeply ingrains the military’s approval for future elected governments. Thailand has issued 19 constitutions since a constitutional monarchy replaced an absolute one in 1932.
Moreover, as Allen Hicken has explained, introducing multi-member constituencies will mean it will be very hard for one political party to have a majority of seats in the lower house. Experts say the system was designed so no single party would have control and so the country would be ruled by a coalition of political parties.
“The politics from now will be more compromising, more negotiating”, Yuthaporn Issarachai, the dean of political science at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said in a television interview. “It won’t be politics ruled by the majority”.
Finally, from a short-term perspective, the referendum can be seen as an exercise in political theatre to tide Thailand over as it enters a period of potential turmoil with an impending royal succession.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, former commander in chief of the Thai army, claims the new constitution is part of a road back to full democracy. This was previously left to the House of Representatives. His son, the crown prince, isn’t almost as popular and some here say one of the reasons for the coup two years ago was to help ensure that the transition goes smoothly. “It was created to make the country move forward for a change and not return to crisis”. “This result seems to increase the likelihood that the steps that the dictatorship will take to institutionalize its favored political order will be met with continued apathy and disengagement on the part of many Thais”.
Independent election observers had asked to monitor the poll, “but this was not granted by the Election Commission”, as the BBC reports.
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“I want the situation to return to normal and I want elections”, she told AFP.
