Roundup: Public debate on Thai constitution to be held in all provinces: Deputy premier

Public debate on Thailand's draft constitution will be held in all provinces throughout the country, confirmed Deputy Premier Prawit Wongsuwan on Thursday.

Gen Prawit, who is concurrently defense minister, declined to tell how soon such public debate on the draft constitution will be held in all the 77 provinces while a public referendum for the charter is already scheduled for Aug. 7.

"I've already instructed provincial governors and election commissioners to see to it that public debate will be held in every province nationwide so that both sides of the charter issue can express their supporting or opposing views," he said.

He made his comments following persistent calls from university academics, politicians and civil groups for the military-led government under Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha and the ruling junta, officially named the National Council for Peace and Order, to clearly respond what to do if the charter was turned down by the public referendum.

The deputy premier said he has instructed provincial governors nationwide and the Election Commission, which will be in charge of conducting the referendum, to organize public debate ahead of the Aug. 7 polls.

He declined to tell exactly on what date the public debate may be held in respective provinces throughout the country, given a two-week interval until the referendum date.

More than 100 academics, politicians and leaders of civil groups recently signed up a statement to the Prayut government and NCPO calling for the referedum to be held in transparent and fair fashion and for the clear response as to what would happen if the charter, drafted up by an ad hoc committee all members of which were handpicked by the premier, was rejected by the referendum.

Those who signed on the petition pressing the NCPO and Prayut to take a clear response to the possibility of the charter being rejected by the referendum included former premier/Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, former deputy premier/deputy Democrat leader Banyat Bantattan and executive members of Puea Thai (for Thais) Party.

Prayut earlier commented that he will not step down if the charter was rejected. He only said he would adhere to the junta's roadmap which already planned to return democratic rule by way of a general election some time next year.

In case that the charter was voted down in the Aug.7 referendum, the premier said he might probably set up a third committee to do the drafting of a charter following the two others which already had done the same thing since last year.

Gothom Arya, head of Mahidol University's Research Center for Peace and Humanities, suggested that the Prayut government manage to set up a brand-new charter-drafting panel in the face of a referendum defeat of the charter.

According to Gothom, a former election commissioner, the new charter-drafting panel should consist of representatives of the people and civil groups besides bureaucrats, senior government personnel and military officers whom the premier might add.

In another development, copies of the names of eligible voters to the referendum displayed at roadside spots in Khon Kaen province in northeastern Thailand and Satul provinces in southern region were torched by unknown hands on Thursday, police said.

Similar incidents had earlier occurred elsewhere in the provinces, including the mailing of mysterious papers to eligible voters in Lampang, Lampoon and Chiang Mai provinces with content against the draft charter. The alleged perpetrators of such anti-charter movement are yet to be brought to justice, the police said. Endit