Thai reform council rejects draft charter

Thailand's National Reform Council (NRC) on Sunday voted 135: 105, with 7 abstentions, to reject a 124-page draft constitution.

The coup-making National Council for Peace and Order will have to appoint a new 21-member constitution drafting committee within 30 days, which will then draft a fresh charter within 180 days.

If the NRC votes down the draft charter, a referendum, originally scheduled for next January, could be delayed to July 2016, and as a result, a general election might not be held until April 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea- ngam said earlier.

The rejected draft charter, one of the longest in the world, has drawn criticism over several controversial provisions, including one stipulating the establishment of a strategic committee for reform and reconciliation, also known as the crisis committee, which is empowered to take over from an elected government in a crisis if the action is deemed necessary. The decisions and actions of the crisis committee shall be deemed legitimate and final.

Clauses that allow an outsider or non-MP to become prime minister, and a largely appointed Senate have also been widely debated.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Friday that neither the government nor the NCPO had intervened and instructed NRC members on how to cast their votes.

The NRC will be dissolved after the vote regardless of the result, and a reform mobilization committee is expected to come into being to carry on with reforms.

A poll released by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University on Sunday showed that a majority of 1,206 respondents believed that the country's politics would continue to see chaos, irrespective of the outcome of the NRC vote.