The ruling Pheu Thai Party is seeking a Constitutional Court ruling on whether parliament has the authority to amend the charter without a referendum being held first.
PM's Office Minister Chousak Sirinil, who is also Pheu Thai's deputy leader, said the party is set to submit a motion today with the parliament president seeking a vote on a charter amendment-related issue.
The vote, if adopted today, will allow parliament to go ahead with the request for a Constitutional Court ruling on whether parliament has the authority to amend the charter without a referendum being organised first.
Pheu Thai mobilised 40 MPs, the legal minimum, to sign in support of the motion yesterday, according to Mr Chousak.
The motion, he explained, does not duplicate the one sponsored by Senator Premsak Piayura, who also asked the court to provide clarity on the amendment-initiating issue. A request for a court ruling effectively halts a proposed change to Section 256 of the 2017 charter to pave the way for the creation of a charter drafting assembly (CDA).
Setting up the CDA is in effect a prelude to rewriting the entire charter, an act mandating a referendum which must come before a wholesale amendment to the constitution, according to experts.
Many lawmakers feared legal punishment if they voted to proceed with rectifying Section 256, in lieu of a prior referendum. They stayed away from the parliamentary meetings covering Section 254 last Thursday and Friday, forcing both sessions to collapse due to a lack of a quorum.
A bill to change Section 256 remains on parliament's agenda although it looks certain to be put on the back-burner due to the motions seeking constitutional clarity.
Yesterday, Mr Chousak said he expected parliament would endorse Pheu Thai's motion over Sen Premsak's one as it spells out a clearer objective in terms of requesting the court's ruling.
Parliament previously approached the Constitutional Court and asked for a similar ruling. The court, however, rejected the request, reasoning the amendment has not yet begun and as such there were no grounds for it to be deliberated.
Several lawmakers believed that with the proposed change to Section 256 having now been put before parliament, there is now a firm basis to justify pursuing the ruling.
Mr Chousak, who also serves as a legal expert for his party, indicated parliamentarians may be in for three referendums, one preceding the charter rewrite, a second on establishing the CDA, and a final round on whether people will approve a CDA-authored charter.