A joint parliamentary decision to seek a legal ruling on whether politicians can form a charter drafting panel to make wholesale amendments without the need for a referendum means the process returns to square one.
Parliamentarians in both the upper and lower chambers last week debated the issue extensively, yet the result, 150:304 votes, means no progress has been made on the charter amendment effort. This is extremely discouraging.
The 304 parliamentarians who endorsed a charter court ruling citing Section 210 of the charter governing the court's jurisdiction over the matter are from Pheu Thai and its coalition partners; while 150 parliamentarians who opposed the move comprise 12 senators in the progressive camp, except for Boonrith Maneechai who abstained; 137 from the People's Party, and one from the Fair Party.
At the same time, most of the 124 abstention votes came from the blue-bloc senators, and the rest saw two from the Democrats, and one each from the Prachachart and Palang Pracharat parties.
Senator Nantana Nantavaropas disagrees with the petition to the charter court, saying the court had ruled that parliament has the jurisdiction to kickstart the process and she sees no point in asking again.
However, veteran Pheu Thai politician Sutin Klangsang defended Pheu Thai's lack of enthusiasm over the matter.
He insisted the ruling party is not draggng its feet. Instead, he said, caution was the order of the day.
The party interpreted the court's previous ruling to mean that three referendums are needed for wholesale charter change while the opposition and the senators in the progressive camp are adamant that two referendums suffice.
No matter what Pheu Thai's senior MP said, forwarding the case to the charter court means further delay and it's quite clear there are no signs the amendment process will ever begin during the tenure of this Pheu Thai-led coalition.
It's like walking in a circle, starting with the former Srettha Thavisin government which formed a study group on charter amendments instead of starting the process right away after taking office as promised during the 2023 poll.
Under Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who succeeded Mr Srettha, the party opted for a court ruling, which was transparently a delaying tactic.
People Party list MP Parit Wacharasindhu is right in saying that it's a lack of political will, not the law, that obstructs changes to the junta-sponsored 2017 charter.
Should the court remain ambiguous on the matter, there is no certainty the coalition and Senate will join the amendment effort. The MP said Prime Minister Paetongtarn should show leadership, convincing her coalition partners to go ahead with charter change. After all, amending the charter is among Pheu Thai's flagship campaign policies.
Yet the circumstances around the contentious vote reflects the fact that little prospect of change lies in sight.
Should the charter court accept the petition, the amendment process will be put off further. But even if the court turns it down, as many observers believe, it's unlikely the Pheu Thai-led coalition will dare to make a move.
It would come as no surprise if it keeps dragging its feet, like it is doing just now, until the next election.