<p>After reserving six seats in the senate for military and police chiefs, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) revealed that the junta will get to handpick the senate selection committee members.</p> <p>Meechai Ruchuphan, President of the CDC, on Thursday, 24 March 2016, told the media that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) will get to screen candidates for the committee of nine persons who will be tasked with selecting all 250 senators.</p>

<p>A Buddhist network has submitted to the charter drafters a list of 100,000 supporters of a campaign to enshrine Buddhism as the state religion, saying it will help the draft constitution to pass the referendum. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Taking in some of the junta’s suggestions to amend the draft charter, the Constitution Drafting Committee has guaranteed seats for military chiefs in the senate.</p> <p><a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/79620">Matichon Online&nbsp;</a>reported that Norachit Sinhaseni, spokesperson of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), announced at 4:10 pm on Tuesday, 22 March 2016, that the CDC has agreed with some of the recommendations from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on the 2016 draft constitution.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Despite efforts by the military government to improve the appalling state of Thai education, reformers point out that the new draft constitution will plunge Thailand deeper into an education crisis.</p> <p></p>

<p>Despite promises of education reform as the country ranks among the worst in the region for academic success, a youth civil society group says that Thai education will only get worse under the draft constitution.</p>

<p>The head of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has threatened legal action to quell criticism of the new draft constitution. &nbsp;</p> <p>Thai News Agency on Monday, 8 February 2016, reported that Meechai Ruchuphan, President of the CDC, said that the CDC will meet to discuss possible legal action against people who distort facts to criticise the 2016 charter draft.</p>

<p>After years of fighting for rights over land and resources, communities living on disputed land or standing on the way of state megaprojects are to be left destitute under the new draft constitution written by the junta-appointed Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC).</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">Rather than acting for the people, Thailand’s latest constitution drafting committee are the junta’s loyal servants, writes Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thailand’s 1997 and 2007 constitutions both contained elaborate protections for the rights and freedoms of the people. The 2016 draft constitution represents a major overhaul in the in this area, often for worse. Meechai Ruchupan, the President of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), has chosen a different path from his predecessors.</p>

<p>The Election Commission of Thailand has proposed penalties for people who distort facts about the draft constitution while the Royal Thai Army says it will help promote a correct understanding. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Pheu Thai Party says that the Constitutional Court should not have the authority to rule on political deadlocks because it is ‘undemocratic’.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/4261">Matichon Online</a>, Phumtham Vejchayachai, Acting Secretary General of the Pheu Thai Party, on Sunday 17 January 2016, criticised the content of the new draft constitution on the authority of the Constitutional Court.</p>

<p>The junta-appointed drafters of the new constitution have concluded that under the new charter the controversial Constitutional Court will have jurisdiction in times of political crisis. &nbsp;</p> <p>At the mobile meeting in Cha Am District of Phetchaburi Province, the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) on Monday, 11 January 2016, announced that the new charter will move the language of Article 7 of the 2007 Constitution to the section on the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court instead.</p>

<p>After much debate on making Buddhism Thailand’s state religion, the constitutional drafters have dropped the proposal, saying that it could lead to danger in the future.</p>