<p dir="ltr">Academics and human rights advocates have demanded the authorities to amend a controversial act barring people to freely criticise the junta-sponsored draft constitution, saying that opinions from all sides are crucial for the draft charter referendum.</p>

<div> <div>Key red-shirt leaders have submitted a petition to the UN after the junta shut down their referendum monitoring centres in various provinces across the country, adding that the red shirts will invite EU delegates to participate in observing the referendum. </div></div>

<p>After prohibiting anti-establishment red shirts from opening charter referendum watch centres, Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy junta head and Defence Minister, has defended the use of army cadets to promote the referendum, maintaining that the authorities are not biased. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>A police officer has intimidated a student activist from Ramkhamhaeng University over an academic seminar on the junta-sponsored draft constitution, asking the student whether he has a brain or not.</p>

<div> <div>More than 10 Pheu Thai politicians have simultaneously denounced the junta’s charter draft for its undemocratic origin and content, adding that they will vote against it in the August referendum. One politician argues that the charter draft is actually an amnesty bill for the junta.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, 15 June 2016, prominent politicians of the Pheu Thai Party, the anti-establishment political party with a strong affiliation with Thaksin Shinawatra, simultaneously declared their stance against the junta’s charter draft on their Facebook accounts. </div></div>

<p>Soldiers and police officers have forced a shopkeeper in northern Thailand to remove a banner campaigning on the charter referendum, claiming that they are doing it to maintain peace. &nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p>A Thai Election Commissioner has said that those involved in the production of a well-known Facebook page featuring a music video on the referendum might be prosecuted, alleging that the song is rude.</p> <p>Somchai Srisuthiyakorn of the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT), on Wednesday, 8 June 2016, announced that the ECT will investigate a music video about the referendum on the junta-sponsored draft constitution as it might violate the Referendum Act,<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/164901"> Matichon Online</a> reported.</p>

<div>The junta head has said that if the Constitutional Court rules that the controversial Referendum Act is unconstitutional, the August referendum might be postponed. </div>

<p>Thailand’s Office of the Ombudsman has concluded that the Referendum Act might be unconstitutional as its ambiguity allows the authorities to clamp down on the draft charter critics.</p> <p>Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman, on Wednesday, 1 June 2016, announced that the Ombudsman’s Office will submit a request to the Constitutional Court to rule whether the 2016 Referendum Act is unconstitutional or not. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<div>An independent survey has shown that in the August referendum, most respondents will vote against the draft charter and the junta’s proposal to allow junta-appointed senators to join in the vote for PM.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><img alt="" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1616/26029077930_a2edb8fec6_o.jpg" /></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div><a href="http://peoplepollthailand.com/">PeoplePoll Thailand</a> has <a href="http://peoplepollthailand.com/poll/result/recent/75">published</a> the result of an opinion poll on t </div></div>

<p>A public university has notified its lecturers not to criticise the junta-sponsored draft constitution, saying public institutions have to support the government.</p> <p>Arjinjonathan Arjinkit, lecturer of the Faculties of Humanities and Social Science of Rajabhat Rajanagarindra University in the central province of Chachoengsao posted a status on his Facebook account on 25 May titled ‘When the university monitors your Facebook’.</p>

<p>Minor skirmishes erupted between anti-coup and pro-junta groups as people gathered to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the 2014 coup d’état.</p> <p>On Sunday evening, 22 May 2016, about 500 people led by members of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) and several other pro-democracy political activist groups marched from Thammasat University, Tha Prachan Campus, to the Democracy Monument in Bangkok in an event called ‘2 Years with the Future that People Did Not Choose’.</p>