Referendum a tool for direct democracy

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has proposed a “6-4-6-4” timeline  – six months to draft the new charter, four months to prepare for the referendum, six months to write organic laws in support of the charter, and four months to campaign for the election.
The Election Commission (EC) is looking forward to preparing for the referendum, and according to the formula, the referendum will happen in June or July next year, Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn told The Nation.
Somchai said proposed regulations would be put before the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) for approval and then the EC would make an official announcement on them.
Next, the EC would organise and regulate referendum campaigns. It will encourage commentators on the draft to register and join the EC’s approximately 10 to 11 forums to be broadcast over free television channels. Somchai said the EC would limit comments or expressions that were deemed provocative.
The EC will also mail the draft study packages to 16.58 million households of eligible voters, with a package per household. Contained in a clear plastic pack, each package will
consist of documents by both the CDC and the EC.
The EC itself will provide papers on voting procedures, statements from the EC explaining the importance of the referendum, as well as the registered commentator’s comments.
Then, the official date for the referendum will be set, Somchai said. According to 2014 interim charter, the packages must be mailed to no less than 80 per cent of the households before the EC can proceed with finalising the date of referendum.
Finally, a nationwide referendum would be held. He added that though full details were still not finalised, it is now known that the EC will use some new innovations, such as the EC-developed voting machines to be stationed at some Bangkok constituencies, and mobile applications designed for people to confidentially report inappropriate elections. They will also provide maps showing eligible voters their constituencies.

‘Referendum to promote democracy’
Some charter drafters and academics agreed that a referendum should be further promoted, both at national and local levels, to supplement representative democracy and not supplant the parliamentary system.
“A referendum is like a social contract. Through this process, people can directly express their consent about issues deemed important to [national and people’s interests],” said rights expert and former Election Commissioner Gothom Arya.
A member of the previous Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) and law expert, Banjerd Singkaneti, agreed, saying a referendum was aimed at allowing more public participation in the political process at the local and national levels.
According to Banjerd, the local level is an area where direct democracy can have a real impact. People are much more linked to the impact of political decisions made by local administrations and require more direct participation by all stakeholders in the decision-making process.
This is not to forget that the cost of organising a referendum at the local level is far less than one at national level, he said.
However, a referendum could be of use at a national level, especially for government decisions on issues deemed to severely affect national and people’s interests.
The importance of the issues made it indispensable for the government to directly gauge public opinions, he said.
Siripan Noksuan Sawasdee, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, said it was crucial for Thai society to understand what a referendum is. She said it was a mechanism to supplement representative democracy, giving power back to the people to decide on important matters.
She also noted that the limitations in holding a referendum were that people often didn’t fully understand the content. And, if the process was not conducted democratically, the referendum could become a tool to legitimise authoritarian power.