Today is a crucial day for us Thais as we head to the polling booths to undertake our civic duty of casting our votes for the approval or disapproval of the latest constitution.
The version put forward for us to vote upon comes about 11 months after the one drafted by Borwornsak Uwanno was rejected by the now-defunct National Reform Council and would be the 21st charter for a country that moved to democracy in 1932.
The unofficial outcome of the vote will likely be known no later than 9pm tonight, when we will know what lies ahead for us.
The outcome of the vote will carry far greater weight if turnout meets expectations of 80%. As the various surveys show, there were a high number of undecided voters but the difference between those who say "No" and "Yes" has been very slim.
The voter turnout of 57.5% of the 45.09 million eligible voters in the Aug 19, 2007 referendum was a decent show of force, but the stakes are much higher for this draft and therefore a greater turnout is needed to justify whatever the outcome will be.
We Thais have seen a lost decade of turmoil based on political ideologies. The 2007 constitution was supposed to resolve some of those problems, but alas it failed.
In order for our country to move forward, we need to accept whatever the result is. It would be futile for us to lose more time on infighting because our neighbours are all marching ahead.
We have been assured that the outcome either way will not derail the roadmap that calls for elections next year, and the military government needs to keep its promise to the people. Any derailment or deviation from this would be unacceptable, no matter what the situation is, because the country has already seen the roadmap changed a few times since the military seized control in May 2014.
A "Yes" vote by a majority of the people should be followed by the drafting of the by-laws that would pave the way for general elections. The military should not use a "Yes" vote to justify extending its term by claiming that the general public approves of its rule.
At the same time, a "No" vote should be followed by picking a constitution of the past, preferably 1997 or 2007, and amending it slightly and implementing it as soon as possible to hold a general election by the end of next year.
Also, opponents of military rule should not use a "No" vote to say that this was a mandate against those in power and instigate ways to oust the government. Anti-military groups need to realise that any such move would only give the military the opportunity to extend its rule and neither this movement nor the country benefits from such a situation.
Whether the outcome is "Yes" or "No", one of the most important factors that could push both pro- and anti-government movements to heed to result is voter turnout. A high turnout would force the military, politicians and everyone concerned to accept the outcome, no matter what it is.