Draft Thai statute gives Army more power

A panel appointed by Thailand’s military junta on Tuesday unveiled a draft Constitution touted as the solution to a decade-long political crisis, but derided by critics as undemocratic and divisive.

Thailand has been controlled by the Army since a 2014 coup overthrew the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra, whose billionaire family has swept the last three elections but is hated by the Bangkok elite.

If the charter is ratified, it will perpetuate the military’s influence. A junta-appointed Senate would check the powers of legislator for a five-year transitional period following fresh elections.

The document also enshrines a proportional voting system, a move that would likely reduce the majority held by any elected government once Thais regain the right to vote.

The drafters insist their new Constitution — the kingdom’s 20th in less than a century — will end the cycle of elections, street protests and coups.

“We see it as a return to a period where you don’t have people confronting each other on the streets,” Constitutional Drafting Committee spokesperson Norachit Sinhaseni said.

“That is what the majority of Thais want.”

But critics said it is aimed squarely at breaking the Shinawatras’ electoral stranglehold on the country. The document is set to go to the public in a referendum on August 7.

However the junta has warned it will not tolerate criticism of the charter in the run-up to the vote, making debate all but impossible.

“I have laws in hand. Whoever violates those laws, legal action will be taken against them,” junta chief Prayut Chan-o-Cha told reporters after the draft was unveiled.

Two Opposition politicians have already been detained by the military this week for voicing criticism of the document.

Paul Chambers, a Thailand-based academic, said the document would in effect prolong Army rule and establish a “frail democracy” easily controlled by a the junta.

In the run-up to its unveiling, the charter has been criticised by both sides of the political divide, even those who cheered the toppling of the government led by Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party.