The Move Forward Party (MFP) will be filing an urgent motion asking parliament to call a referendum on whether the entire Constitution should be amended by an elected Constituent Assembly.

Parit Wacharasindhu speaking at Wednesday's press conference. (Photo from Move Forward Party press team)

MFP MP Parit Wacharasindhu said on Wednesday (16 August) that the party believes that writing a new Constitution is important to rebuild democracy in Thailand and bring Thai politics back to normalcy.  He added that the 2017 Constitution is not legitimate in terms of its drafting and content, which has given rise to Thailand current political crisis.

According to Parit, amending the 2017 Constitution requires 2 referendums, a Constituent Assembly election, and another referendum to approve a draft of the amendments. While the first referendum, in which voters are asked if they think the Constitution should be amended, is not legally necessary, he said, parliament will not be able to refuse if voters agree that amendments are needed.

He said that the question used in the referendum is an important detail and MFP is proposing that the first referendum ask “Do you agree that an entirely new Constitution should be drafted by a Constituent Assembly which is directly elected by the people to replace the current 2017 Constitution?”

The MFP feels it is important that the question clearly ask about amending the entire Constitution, since amending specific sections is not enough because the process of drafting and enacting the 2017 Constitution was problematic on several fronts, including the origin and authority of the Senate, the formation of independent organisations and gaps in the protection of civil rights and liberties. The party also feels that the question should make it clear that the Constituent Assembly will be entirely elected so that the new Constitution will be drafted by representatives of the people. Parit added that the Constituent Assembly may still be allowed to organise ad hoc committees to gain input from legal experts who may not wish to run for election as a member of the Constituent Assembly.

He stated that the question needs to be easily understood and not written to direct voters in certain directions, a notable criticism of the 2016 referendum. As an example, he pointed out that the question of whether the Senate should be able to vote for Prime Minister was too complicated and written to elicit a certain answer.

Parit said that MFP MP Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut and Pheu Thai MP Julapun Amornvivat proposed the same question to be used in a constitutional amendment referendum in an urgent motion during the last parliament’s term. The motion was unanimously approved by all of the 324 MPs present in the chamber on 3 November 2022.

Under the 2021 Referendum Act, a referendum may be called by a resolution from the cabinet, by parliamentary motion, or a petition signed by at least 50,000 voters. Although a civil society network is already running a campaign to collect 50,000 signatures to call for a referendum on constitutional amendments, Parit said that, to speed up the process, the party is pursuing another method.   MFP is proposing an urgent motion proposing questions similar to the ones put forward by the civil society campaign.

Parit asked that every political party, especially those which agreed with amending the Constitution, push the motion before parliament as soon as possible and to vote to approve it.