Thais awaited the results Sunday of a referendum on a new constitution that, if accepted, would lay the foundation for a civilian government influenced by the military and controlled by appointed rather than elected officials.
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The junta, which came to power in a May 2014 coup and ordered the constitution rewritten, says the new version will usher in a new era of clean politics and stable democracy in a country chronically short of both in recent years.
Around 50.5 million Thais out of the total population of 65 million are eligible to vote in this referendum on two questions on their ballots, the first one on their opinion on the constitution, and the second on whether they wanted 250 senators picked by the current junta, or the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to have power to elect a prime minister along with 500 elected members of House of Representatives.
After casting his ballot at a polling station in Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said: “Come out (to vote) because today is important for the future of the country”.
Thais voted Sunday in a referendum on a new const.
The voter turnout in the referendum reached over 50 percent, according to Thai officials. Jatuporn Prompan, the UDD chairman, said the referendum should not have been held under such conditions.
The way the referendum has been run by the military authorities has been widely condemned by human rights groups because of the ban on campaigning, which has seen dozens of people detained and charged.
Nine activists who posted comments critical of Thailand’s ruling junta and a military-backed draft constitution on Facebook have been jailed, police said on Saturday, the latest opponents of the government penalised for airing dissent.
The proposed constitution was created to shift the balance of power away from major political parties and give a greater voice to medium-size parties under a new formula for awarding seats in Parliament.
Despite the curbs on civil liberties, Prayuth’s rule has brought a measure of stability and ended the frequent street violence and divisive politics that had frayed Thailand’s social fabric for years. Critics say the restrictions ensured that most people were unaware of the pitfalls of the charter, and were probably anxious to get the long-drawn process over with so that they could move on.
By Sunday evening, the commission said the unofficial tally meant almost 35 million of the 50 million eligible voters had cast their ballot at one of more than 95,000 polling stations.
The “yes” vote “adds that touch of legitimacy to the coup makers”, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University in Japan, told The Associated Press. That veneer of stability could help explain the “yes” vote for the new constitution.
Analysts have said that a “yes” vote would be a setback for democracy in Thailand.
Thailand has endured 13 successful military coups and 11 attempted takeovers since it replaced an absolute monarchy with a constitutional one in 1932.
“The environment in the last two to three months hasn’t felt like previous elections or referendums”, said Abhisit Vejjajiva, a former prime minister and head of the Democrat Party, who opposed the draft constitution.
The win was a blow to the powerful Shinawatra clan and their allies, whose populist politics are reviled by Thailand’s military-royalist establishment. This will be the nation’s 20th constitution in that time and the fifth in a decade.
The vote comes against the back-drop of concern about the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88.
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Thaksin’s ouster in a 2006 coup set off a cycle of military interventions, controversial court rulings and protests and counter protests that have dogged every government since. The 2014 coup ousted his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was elected prime minister in 2011. He has lived overseas since 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction that he says was politically motivated.
