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Thai PM promises general election in late 2017 after official result of referendum comes out

Xinhua, August 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said his government will follow the roadmap to a general election in 2017 after official results of the charter referendum came out on Wednesday.

"All of what happened earlier are consistent with our roadmap...the Constitution Drafting Committee(CDC) will make amendments to the draft constitution in accordance with result of the referendum on the additional question, then the draft will be sent to Constitutional Court to examine, then submitted to the King for endorsement," Said Prayut in a TV address, adding that this process will be finished in three months.

According to Prayut, the 2014 interim constitution will be replaced by the new one after its promulgation and CDC will work on 10 organic laws, especially four of them that are necessary for a general election, during which the National Council for Peace and Order, or the junta will function normally until there is a new government under the new constitution.

Prayut said the four organics laws will be promulgated in middle 2017, after which the Election Commission will hold a general election in five months, if the country is still stable.

Prayut also mentioned there are people disappointed about the current stable situation in Thailand, "who persist on damaging the country and even our highest institution, all for their own personal gain, through the use of online media and information sent from abroad."

He asked them to respect laws and the results of the referendum, adding that the Article 44 of the 2014 interim Constitution is still in effect.

The controversial Article 44 authorizes the junta chief to issue any order or direct any action to be done or not to be done, irrespective of whether the order or action would produce legislative, executive or judicial effect.

Supachai Somcharoen, chairman of the Election Commission declared the official result of the referendum on the 2016 draft constitution and its additional question Wednesday afternoon, saying that a 59.40 percent of 50.07 million eligible voters participated, with 61.35 percent and 58.07 percent of "Yes" vote respectively to the draft constitution and its additional question.

After royal endorsement, the now draft charter will then become the Kingdom's 20th constitution, and it will unprecedentedly allow a total of 250 senators, selected by the junta, to jointly elect a new prime minister with 500 elected members from the lower house. Enditem