Thai electoral volunteer officials prepare ballot boxes and ballot papers for the referendum on a new constitution at Ratchathewi District Office in Bangkok.
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Voting is underway in Thailand in a referendum that will help chart the political course of the troubled nation.
Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra looks from behind a booth as she votes during the referendum on a draft constitution at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, August 7, 2016.
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Thai capital Bangkok.
National referendum on Thailand’s 2016 draft constitution and its additional question begins at 8 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Sunday, while a general election in 2017 is promised by the present government irrespective of the outcome.
“The more it rains, the more people should come”, he told reporters at his polling station in central Bangkok. Thais voted Sunday in a refe.
But his previous election date promises have slipped and he has yet to detail what kind of constitution Thailand will have if this one is rejected.
Even if Thais vote “no”, the military will remain in control for the foreseeable future.
“No matter what the results of today’s referendum may be, we consider this referendum a pride and success because so many people have come out to vote at the polls today”, Election Commissioner Teerawat Teerarotewit said at a news conference shortly after the polls closed.
“If you say “yes” to the constitution, it means you agree with the content of the constitution. what makes matters worse is you also give legitimacy to the coup, to the coup makers”, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University in Japan. Around 50.5 million Thais of the total population of 65 million are eligible to vote this time, compared to 45 million eligible in the last referendum.
Voters will be asked whether they accept the draft constitution, and whether to permit the country’s Senate to jointly vote for prime minister along with the House of Representatives.
“I’m happy that I could still exercise my rights as a [Thai] person”, she said, after voting on Sunday.
A new constitution, Thailand’s 20th since absolute monarchy was abolished in the early 1930s.
With 12 successful military coups – and more than a handful of failed coup attempts in that time – it is unlikely that Thailand’s generals are going to bow out of the country’s political life any time soon.
The military Government has said its role is necessary to avoid a return to political protests and violence. The junta set up hand-picked committees to draft a charter that would enshrine its declared goal of reforming politics by eliminating corruption.
But critics say the new constitution would radically change the way Thailand is governed in favour of the military establishment.
Shinawatra parties have won all general elections since 2001, scooping up votes of the rural poor and urban working class with policies promising greater wealth and opportunity.
The army ousted Thaksin in a 2006 coup, after “yellow shirt” protesters took to the streets and accused him of abuse of power, corruption and disrespecting the king. Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has come out against the plan on the grounds that an appointed upper house would encourage political gridlock. He has lived overseas since 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction that he says was politically motivated.
“With the army’s power embedded in the constitution, backed by the Constitutional Court’s “state of exception” powers, the traditional elites would in effect have designed new mechanisms to seize power without resorting to a military coup”.
His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was also forced from the Prime Minister’s office ahead of the coup in 2014.
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Analysts say the new constitution would make it easy to disband parties, keep politicians in line, impeach politicians, and enforce a coalition government of weaker, smaller parties.
