A charter amendment draft sponsored by a civil society group is scheduled for its first reading on Tuesday seeking to change parliament's structure by removing the Senate.
The bill, which has support from over 135,000 eligible voters, will be debated by a joint sitting of MPs and senators. It has proposed six key changes to the 2017 constitution.
First among them is to abolish the Senate, seen as the proxy of the now-dissolved National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). It also seeks to increase the MPs and the opposition's powers to scrutinise the government.
The bill also seeks to restructure the Constitutional Court, proposing that the court should comprise nine judges nominated by government MPs, the opposition MPs and the general assembly of Supreme Court judges or Supreme Administrative Court judges.
Senator Seree Suwanpanont said yesterday senators are expected to informally discuss the charter amendment draft today before the joint scrutiny takes place.
However, he said the draft is unlikely to pass the first reading given its contents which seek to revise the parliament's structure and several independent public agencies while allowing political interference.
Under the bill, Section 256 regulating how the current charter is amended must be scrapped. Only MPs are authorised to examine charter amendment proposals which require approval from two-thirds of MPs in the first and third readings and approval of a majority in the second reading.
In other proposed changes, the 20-year national strategy and reforms introduced by the NCPO must be abolished; current independent public agencies must be replaced when the amendment takes effect; and all the NCPO's orders must be nullified.
According to Mr Seree, the charter amendment proposal is politically motivated and its sponsor must have been aware the bill does not stand a chance.
The bill requires at least one-third of senators, or 84, and at least 20% of opposition MPs, or 43, to pass its first reading.