By Shawn W. Crispin
The country moves back to square one.
Thailand’s National Reform Council (NRC) on Sunday voted down a draft constitution that critics claimed aimed to create a “state within a state” by giving the military overarching powers to suspend democratic rule during times of crisis. The “no” vote will restart the charter-drafting process, extend the junta’s already delayed roadmap to new elections and likely extend coup-installed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s stay in unelected power well into 2017.
Appointed by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta, the 247-member NRC voted narrowly against the draft, with 135 opposed, 105 in support, and seven abstentions. Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chairman Borwornsak Uwanno hinted in news reports that senior generals had discreetly leaned on NRC members to scrap the draft, despite former army commander Prayut’s strong public lobbying for its passage, including a combative appeal during his nationally televised weekly address on Friday.
Borwornsak’s revelation raised questions about whether the draft charter was stood as a straw man to be voted down in a seemingly internal democratic process that was ultimately rigged to ensure the military remains in power ahead of a delicate royal succession. The “no” vote will also at least temporarily head off rising tensions between the junta and political parties over its proposed new political order, which threatened to ramp up ahead of a national referendum tentatively scheduled for January if the NRC had approved the draft.
Read the full story at The Diplomat