Meechai Ruchupan, former chairman of the 2017 charter drafting committee, says that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha's premiership officially began in April of 2017 when the current constitution was promulgated, according to a document leaked to the media.
Meechai: Led drafting of charter
That means Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure as prime minister will end in April 2025.
The leaked document, which was claimed to be submitted by Mr Meechai to the Constitutional Court, went viral on social media yesterday.
The court will hold a meeting tomorrow to examine statements submitted by Gen Prayut, Mr Meechai and Pakorn Nilprapun, former secretary to the charter drafting committee, over the dispute related to the limit on Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure.
If the court's judges decide that the evidence and witnesses available are already sufficient, they can set the date for handing down a ruling, according to a source at the court.
The Constitutional Court decided on Aug 24 to suspend Gen Prayut as prime minister until it hands down its ruling on his term limit. The suspension order followed the court's decision to accept an opposition petition asking it to rule on Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure.
According to the leaked document, Mr Meechai explained that the 2017 constitution was promulgated on April 6, 2017, though it cannot be applied retroactively to actions that took place before its promulgation, unless specific provisions are stipulated in the constitution.
Regarding the cabinet, the constitution stipulated provisions related to qualifications, the way cabinet ministers are chosen, the framework for their duties, their tenure in office and the vacation of office, which are different from previous constitutions.
These provisions cannot be applied to persons or actions that took place before the 2017 constitution was promulgated, unless specific provisions are stipulated, according to the document.
Mr Meechai also explained that a cabinet under the 2017 constitution could be formed only after the House of Representatives and the Senate were established after a general election held under the 2017 constitution, according to the document.
In order to ensure continuity in national administration during this interval, a provisional clause -- Section 264 -- was drawn up.
The section stipulates that the cabinet running the country on the day before the constitution was promulgated shall be the cabinet under the 2017 constitution until a new cabinet assumes office after the first election under this constitution.
"As a result of Section 264, cabinet ministers and the prime minister who were in office on the day before the promulgation of the 2017 constitution is the cabinet under the constitution which came into effect on April 6, 2017," according to the document.
"Therefore, all provisions of the 2017 constitution apply to the cabinet and the prime minister mentioned before from April 6, 2017, when the constitution was promulgated and the tenure [as prime minister] under Section 158 began on April 6, 2017 accordingly," the document stated.
According to Section 158 of the constitution, the maximum term of a prime minister is eight years.
According to the leaked document, Mr Meechai also refuted the minutes of a Sept 7, 2018 meeting attended by the charter drafting committee, which the opposition cited to support the view that Gen Prayut's maximum eight-year tenure ended last month.
According to an excerpt from the minutes, Mr Meechai said the eight-year tenure of a PM who took office before the charter was implemented should span both the time before it came into effect and the period after, if the same premier served again after the new constitution was put in place.
But Mr Meechai argued that the excerpt in question was incomplete and the minutes were not verified by the committee, while the meeting was the last one before the committee ended its task on Sept 12, 2018, according to the document.
Mr Meechai could not be reached by the Bangkok Post for comment yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday there was no backup plan if Gen Prayut has to step down as PM as a result of the court's ruling.
He added that the court proceedings should be allowed to take their course.