Foreign elections watchdogs preparing for charter referendum

Pongsak Chanon, Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) project coordinator for Thailand, said yesterday that the organisation would assign more than 10 experts to produce analyses and reports on the campaigning and voting situation in the Kingdom. Their action plans should be concluded next week, Pongsak said.

Anfrel’s referendum observation plan has been approved by Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, Pongsak said. 

He suggested the government should allow freer expressions on the constitution draft to truly achieve democracy after the referendum. 

Sakul Suesongtham, a People’s Network for Election in Thailand committee member, said the group had thought of assigning local observers for government-organised public forums on the charter draft. 

The group has not yet come up with an observation plan on the referendum as it has not heard the observation rules from the authorities yet, Sakul said.

Attasit Pankaew, Thailand Political Base chief researcher, agreed that the rules needed to be devised before interested international watchdogs could make plans. 

Attasit, who is also a Thammasat University political science lecturer, commented that it was essential for people to thoroughly understand the complex draft before voting. 

Charter drafters and the Election Commission (EC) need to ensure that campaigns on the draft will be free of bias, he added.

Thailand Political Base is supported by the Freidrich Naumann Foundation, a German non-profit organisation that aims to promote knowledge on civil education, democracy and human rights.

Meanwhile, the charter-opposing United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) yesterday petitioned the EC, saying it should clarify what is prohibited during the charter campaign. The EC should also allow people to express different views on the charter draft, it said.

The UDD chairman Jatuporn Prompan said the EC should be the sole authority for the referendum rather than the government speaking about what people could and could not do. 

EC deputy secretary-general Metha Silaphan said related prohibitions were stated in the referendum bill draft’s Article 62, but Jatuporn argued that the article was obscurely written.

 

NLA and CDC forums

Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda said yesterday that nobody was allowed to influence other people’s votes, adding that they were only allowed to explain the draft charter’s contents and encourage others to cast their ballot. 

The EC should have a final say on this murky issue, Anupong said, adding that the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) would educate its provincial representatives on the charter draft so they could provide information to the general public. 

The CDC will brief five representatives from each province from May 14 to 15 before they teach representatives at district levels. Then four district representatives will be assigned to educate each village, the minister said. A total of 300,000 representatives will be in charge of educating and providing copies of the draft charter’s summary to local people, he said. 

Meanwhile, National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member Thaweesak Suthakavathin said the NLA was considering holding public forums on the draft to address the drafters’ concerns. 

Thaweesak said that separate forums could help prevent confusion between the draft’s main contents and the additional referendum question. The NLA will explain the reason behind its proposed question, while the CDC will explain the draft charter’s content.