The People’s Constitutional Drafting Group (ConForAll) has launched a campaign to gather over 50,000 signatures to propose a bill amending the Constitution and pushing for fully democratic direct elections for Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) members.

The People’s Constitutional Drafting Group, a network of civil society organizations campaigning for a new constitution, organized a running event at Benchakitti Park on Wednesday (7 January) to call for people to vote in favour of a new Constitution in the upcoming referendum, which will take place on 8 February, the same day as the general election.

Following last week’s Constitutional Court ruling prohibiting a direct election of Constituent Assembly, a network of civil society organizations staged a protest in front of the Constitutional Court office demanding that a Constituent Assembly must be elected.

Parliament has adjourned its joint sitting of MPs and senators to debate two bills proposing amendments to the Constitution due to a lack of quorum for two days in a row, further delaying the process of drafting a new Constitution.

After the cabinet announced on Tuesday (23 April) that it will require three referendums on amending the constitution, concerns have been raised that a provision prohibiting amendments on monarchy-related chapters in the Constitution will lead to a dead end and raise questions about the role of the monarchy.

In August 2023, a network of civil society organizations launched the #ConforAll campaign for a referendum on constitutional amendments. After the network was told by the Election Commission that all signatures must be collected on paper, volunteers across the country launched their own campaigns to get people to sign the petition, gaining the ConforAll campaign 212,139 signatures within three days. For their effort in the campaign, Prachatai names these citizen volunteers our 2023 Persons of the Year.