PT: Charter ruling confusing

Published: 14 Jul 2012 at 16.55
Online news:

Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsap on Saturday slammed the Constitution Court’s ruling on the legality of the charter amendment bill, saying it created confusion over whether a referendum should be held.

The ruling announced on Friday afternoon was not clear, especially on the subject of holding a referendum since it was not written into Section 291 of the existing 2007 charter, Mr Jirayu said.The governing Pheu Thai party wants to amend Section 291 to make way for the setting up of a constitution drafting committee to write a new charter. Mr Jirayu said a referendum process would have to begin after the proposed amendments to the charter have been completed. Therefore, the ruling had created confusion about whether a referendum should have been conducted first. Pimin Thammapitakwong, the court's head spokesman, clarified that the court did not "order" that a referendum must be held if the government wanted to write an...

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majority
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Discussion 14 : 15 Jul 2012 at 14.2114
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People with short memory must have forgotten that the referendum, which the court referred in its “advice” to the parliament on the past Friday, was held when half of the country was under the martial law imposed by the junta (coup makers), and prior to the referred referendum, the junta passed a law making it illegal to publicly criticize the draft written by the junta-appointed drafters. And there were many more ugly, selfish and undemocratic things done by its promoters prior and after the current constitution coming into being.

So I really doubt the court's reference of the said referendum was a wise move (maybe they had no other point or excuse to make), since referring that referendum will only help remind the public, how ugly, selfish and undemocratic the process was to make and to impose the coup makers' constitution, into the top law for Thai people.
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dickemery
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Discussion 13 : 15 Jul 2012 at 14.1413
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53 % are pt mp well if that were the case why form a coalition again an inmaginery figure must be the rain no pt got 35% of the vote of which every mother and child and the ducks chosen voted buying so general sonthi and his party was given a offer which they accept to form a very small majority but if the general is cornered he would oppose a new charter
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nui
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Discussion 12 : 15 Jul 2012 at 09.3312
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Johninbkk Disc.11 : Wrong. Please check Thailand’s electoral system, it is constituency majority, not majority of Thai people. 15 Mill. PTT and almost 11 Mill. Democrats. But referendum will be much more people. Not counting those, who did not vote last time in general election and those who lost faith in the present government. A referendum is too risky for the PTT Party and Thaksin and I do not expect that they vote for this option. The majority of all Thai people did not vote for PTT !
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johninbkk
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Discussion 11 : 15 Jul 2012 at 08.1511
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The Dems and PAD know PTP will win any referendum, so they are only demanding it to stall the process. As there are no details on what the new constitution would be like, it would be a referendum on what people imagine it to be and not what it will actually be.

mitrapaap 7 - 53% of all MPs are PTP. The coalition is an additional 6%.
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bikeme
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Discussion 10 : 15 Jul 2012 at 05.2210
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There is really nothing confusing, the court expressed their opinion that there should be a referendum.

And ultimately, there should be a referendum, the constitution is the governing rules of the entire country. To totally rewrite it, should be voted on beforehand.

The PTP hold a bare majority in Parliament and were voted for by barely one third of Thailand's eligible voters. They are NOT the voice of all of Thailand.

The constitution is the law of the land and in a Democracy we all have a say. The only ethical thing to do is to ask the people to vote as to whether there should be an entirely new constitution written AND put the proposed methods of writing the new constitution in the same referendum. Allowing one party to ride herd on the process is undemocratic.
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prasertsee
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Discussion 9 : 14 Jul 2012 at 23.529
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The main issue being petitioned by the DP against the third reading was that the the charter amendment bill was unconstitional. Since the Constitutional Court dropped or dismissed the case, then it is conclusive that the charter amendment bill as well as the the third reading was constitutional.
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dao
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Discussion 8 : 14 Jul 2012 at 23.078
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Its real simple PT stop trying to pardon the fugitive and the country will run itself .You can sit there and pretend you have something to do with it .
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 7 : 14 Jul 2012 at 22.457
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genii D5: Please stop telling us over and over again, that Phuea Thai has the mandate by an election majority. Phuea Thai did NOT win a majority in the elections. Their MP's have the majority now through coalition and if the coalition partners switch sides, Phuea Thai goes down the drain. Why don't you and alikes not get that?
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 6 : 14 Jul 2012 at 22.396
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"the court did not "order" that a referendum must be held if the government wanted to write an entirely new constitution. It only made a recommendation that since the 2007 charter was approved in a public referendum, it would only be proper to ask the public to vote on whether that charter should be rewritten entirely."

One must be Phuea Thai spokesman or deputy spokesman in order to not understand this or to get confused about it.
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genii
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Discussion 5 : 14 Jul 2012 at 21.095
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The constitution does not require a referendum. The PT were mandated by a majority of the electorate. Changing the constitution was a campaign promise as everyone knew from the begining. Of course there will be resistance, blockades, suggestions and even protest as has been seen from the opposition which is to be expected. The courts decision to drop the petitions for lack of evidence was right and it is right for the PT to change the constitution according to the constitution.
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