The Constitution Drafting Committee will be working against time to finish the new constitution by the April 1 deadline next year, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan said on Tuesday.
Mr Meechai said the CDC has a set timeframe of 180 days, or until April 1, to complete its work. But if Saturdays, Sundays and official holidays are counted out, the committee actually has only about 120 days to work.
During the early stage the CDC will be meeting Monday to Friday, from morning until late in the night, he said.
But in the later stage, the committee may have to work every day, including Saturday and Sunday, he said. He felt that 120 days is not enough, but the CDC will try to meet the deadline.
Mr Meechai said it is too early to think about amending the 2014 interim constitution to extend the time frame. "Our target is to finish the job within the set period," he added.
He said the task of writing the constitution is time-consuming. After the draft constitution is finished, it will have to go to the National Legislative Assembly, the National Reform Steering Assembly, the cabinet, the National Council for Peace and Order, and the people. This process will also take time.
The CDC must also be given some time to revise the draft after receiving back suggestions.
"So we need to finish the work well before the deadline. I don't know if we will be able to do this, but we'll have to try," Mr Meechai said.
As for the process of taking opinions, Mr Meechai said he would have to consult CDC members about this matter.
He would initially propose to a CDC meeting that the committee should be open to all opinions and suggestions. In his opinion, any individuals, groups or even political parties could do this through every channel without time limitations. But he did not know if the CDC would agree with him.
Mr Meechai said he also still had no idea which of the past constitutions would be used to help with the drafting, adding that this would be decided by the CDC, not by him alone.
He affirmed to the media that nobody had given a him directive on how the new charter should be. He repeated that everyone, including members of the media, could give the CDC suggestions in a democratic manner.
Asked how the new constitution could be written in order to solve accumulated conflicts dating from the Black May event in 1992 until the present time, Mr Meechai said this is one of the targets set in Section 35 of the interim constitution. "We will have to look for ways out," he said.
