Seven opposition parties has launched a joint campaign to draft a new constitution, blaming the existing one for causing a narrow-margin majority problem of a government.
They also welcomed nine microparties — those hat had fewer than 70,000 votes in the February election but were allocated an MP seat each because of the Election Commission's calculation method. A member who claimed to represent the parties on Thursday publicly threatened to leave the coalition because they had not been given any executive positions they believe they deserve in the administration.
Representatives of Pheu Thai, Future Forward, Puea Chat, Seri Ruam Thai, Prachachat, New Economics and Palang Puangchon Chaothai parties announced their decision at the Pheu Thai headquarters on Friday.
Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary-general of the Future Forward Party, said the seven opposition parties wanted elected drafters to write the new constitution that would undergo a referendum.
He said the charter campaign was aimed at “reclaiming power and creating a people’s constitution”.
“Today, people start to see the 2017 constitution has led to a dead-end,” Mr Piyabutr said.
The current constitution will always lead to a razor-thin majority of votes in the House, he said.
Watana Muangsook of the Pheu Thai Party said the current charter had hampered the government from solving economic problems for people.
Asked if the opposition would seek support from the Thai Civilised Party, which hast threatened to defect from the government, Pheu Thai adviser Phumtham Wechayachai said the seven opposition parties welcomed the support from all political parties in working for the public interest.