A campaign by a lecturer at Mahidol University for a "no" vote in the Aug 7 referendum on the draft charter may be in breach of Section 61 of the Referendum Act of 2016, according to National Council for Peace and Order spokesman Col Winthai Suwaree.
Col Winthai was referring to Bencharat Sae Chua, a lecturer of Mahidol University's Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, who has distributed a document urging people to vote to reject the draft constitution.
He said the seven points mentioned in the document might be construed as instigating unrest in violation of Section 61 of the Referendum Act.
The seven points in the document were based on personal feeling, without any proof.
However, it was for the Election Commission (EC) to decide whether to take action against the lecturer, Col Winthai said.
Ms Bencharat, in response, insisted her campaign was not intended as inflammatory and the document did not contain any groundless or false accusations.
In fact, the NCPO should be more open in allowing people to get information and to debate various issues of public interest, she said.
Restrictions on expression of opinion would lead to the people getting a one-sided interpretation of the draft constitution, which would do no good for the referendum.
The more the people's rights were restricted, the more the NCPO would lose its legitimacy, she said.
Ms Bencharat said she would wait and see what the EC does in this respect.