<p dir="ltr">Thai Police have ordered a seminar about the new draft constitution to be aborted, saying that it is against the junta’s political gathering ban. &nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63da8263-69ed-fa0c-4d7d-c00e4d6f5586">This column in about why Thailand’s Left (and Center) must treat the coming constitution drafting as a one-shot opportunity. If it does not, we know exactly what will happen because of the last constitution drafting process. The last draft constitution contained nothing for organized labour, nothing for pluralism and Thailand’s minorities, nothing for decentralization – in effect, nothing for a better version of democracy than the 2007 constitution.</span></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-ef13f757-4b0b-8287-adf0-5498f9192ae8">With uncertainty about whether the Thai junta will hold a public referendum on the draft constitution or impose it without public consent, alternative media outlets and think tanks in Thailand came together to open an online forum titled ‘Prachamati’ (referendum) to let people speak their mind about the draft constitution which is currently being debated by the junta’s National Reform Council (NRC).</span></p> <p></p>

<p>A civil society organisation for Thailand’s poor has urged people to call on the Thai junta through local administrators to hold a referendum on the draft constitution.</p> <p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai3.info/english/category/assembly-of-the-poor">Assembly of the Poor</a>, an organisation which is the voice of Thailand’s poor communities, on Tuesday submitted a statement to the Thai junta to demand that the regime hold a public referendum on the draft of the country’s highest law, the constitution.</p>

<p>With uncertainty about whether the Thai junta will hold a public referendum on the new charter draft or impose it without public consent, alternative media outlets and think tanks in Thailand came together on 8 May 2015 to officially open an online forum to let people speak their minds about the draft constitution which is currently being debated in the junta’s National Reform Council (NRC).</p>

<p dir="ltr">Media and civil society organisations launched a new website to allow people to have their say in the new constitutional draft while pointing out that the state agencies responsible in drafting the new charter has failed.</p>