“Prits”, spokesman of the People’s Party, suggests 2 ways to have a new constitution in time for the 2027 election: hold a referendum twice – amend each section after the Senate rejected the MPs’ resolution in the draft referendum bill, accepting that 167 Senators are an obstacle, while agreeing to set up a working group for all parties to find a solution, but does not want it to take too long as it may make the chances dim.
Mr. Parit Wacharasindhu, MP for the party list and spokesman of the Prachachon Party, gave an interview regarding the idea of ??Mr. Chusak Sirinil, Minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office, to set up a working group to discuss amending the constitution, including inviting leaders of all political parties to discuss after the Senate voted against the MPs’ resolution in the draft referendum bill, saying that the next step would be to send it back to the House of Representatives to set up a joint committee of the two houses. However, if the two houses have different opinions, the H
ouse of Representatives has the right to confirm its original draft. However, if it exercises this right, it will take at least 6 months, and the government will affect the drafting of the constitution as planned by the government regarding the referendum, which will make it impossible to hold the first of the three referendums in the local elections in February 2025, and it is highly possible that there will be no new constitution, with the Constituent Assembly being able to enforce it in time for the general elections in 2027, as promised by the government.
Mr. Parit added that he and the Prachachon Party considered how to proceed, which had 2 important issues: 1. The most likely way to have a chance to have a new constitution that would not be enforced in time for the 2017 election is to try to reduce the number of referendums from 3 to 2. If that is the case, the President of the National Assembly must include the draft amendment to the constitution regarding the Constituent Assembly, which currently inc
ludes both the drafts of the former Move Forward Party and the Pheu Thai Party, which the House has not yet included in the meeting agenda. Therefore, if the President of the National Assembly includes it in the agenda, it will be able to proceed according to the roadmap to reduce the number of referendums from 3 to 2. However, he personally understands that the President of the National Assembly is concerned that including it will violate the Constitutional Court’s ruling, so it is up to the President of the National Assembly to review it because he sees that including the draft amendment to the constitution does not violate the court’s ruling at all. 2. Let the National Assembly proceed with amending the constitution section by section in parallel with the drafting of the new constitution. For any sections that are problematic, continue to amend them. Most recently, the Prachachon Party is preparing to submit 7 amendment packages as announced in the press conference.
‘These two important parts are what the
People’s Party will communicate to the public and discuss with other political parties,’ said Mr. Prisht.
As for the idea of ??setting up a working group to discuss amending the constitution by Mr. Chusak, Mr. Parit said that he had not seen the details of the working group, but he thought that a conclusion should be reached quickly and that discussions were beneficial. His position and that of the Prachachon Party have always been clear, and that it would not be a problem to discuss with other political parties. However, he did not want this time frame to be too long because if a solution was not found quickly, the chances of having a new constitution in time for the election would be slim.
When asked about the Senate’s override of the MP’s resolution, whether it can be assessed whether the chance of amending the constitution to establish the Constituent Assembly will be successful or not, Mr. Parit said that if the amendment is article by article and the drafting of a new constitution, it cannot be denied
that the Senate plays an important role because the 2017 constitution is written that if the Constituent Assembly is to be unlocked, drafting a new constitution or article by article cannot pass if it does not receive 1/3 of the Senate’s votes of approval.
When asked about the 167 votes of the senators who passed the third reading, the draft of the referendum bill of the senators is considered to be more than 1 in 3. Looking at it, it seems that the senators who have been criticized that there are political parties behind them will be an obstacle to amending the constitution or not. Mr. Panusaya said that if the 167 votes that voted to reverse the referendum bill decide to block the amendment of the constitution in every matter, in terms of statistics, it will definitely cause an obstacle to amending the constitution. But we are hopeful that we will receive the approval of a sufficient number of senators so that the process can continue. Although the amendment of the constitution has differences in details,
the political parties in the government, whether it is the Pheu Thai Party and the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, have repeatedly emphasized that they agree with having a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. Therefore, we hope that the joining of forces between the opposition and the government will make the drafting of a new constitution actually happen and will result in enough votes from the senators.
Mr. Prisht also said that this week, the House of Representatives has an important bill pending a vote, which is the Progressive Liquor Bill, which he hopes the House will accept the principles of all bills and take some differences in details to debate in the committee. In addition, there will be a consideration of the Trade Competition Bill, which the Move Forward Party previously proposed and which the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Party submitted alongside, which has many issues that are consistent. Therefore, he hopes that it will be another law that the opposition and the government jointly push
for in order to reform the economic structure, prevent monopolies, and promote more free competition, because whenever the economy has a monopoly, the people will be affected.
Source: Thai News Agency