The Cabinet has decided not to restore a constitutional amendment bill that was being debated by parliament in December 2025 when the House of Representatives was dissolved, drawing criticisms that, despite the result of the referendum, the government does not intend to amend the Constitution.

In a Cabinet resolution issued on 5 May, the Bhumjaithai-led government approved the restoration of 31 pending bills from the previous parliament for continued deliberation. This does not include the bill proposing amendments to the 2017 Constitution concerning the amendment process and the formation of a constitutional drafting committee.

The bill was being debated in its second reading in December 2025. It was returned to parliament from an ad hoc committee after two bills, proposed by Bhumjaithai and the People’s Party, passed in their first readings in October 2025.

However, the committee withdrew the bill for further adjustments after Parliament voted to reject a proposal that future constitutional amendments be approved by a simple majority in the joint sitting, opting instead to revert to requiring support from at least one-third of senators. In response to the vote, the People’s Party prepared to file a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The House of Representatives was dissolved the next day.

Paradorn Prissananantakul, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office, told The Standard that the Cabinet and its legal advisors believe it should be up to the new Parliament to propose a new constitutional amendment bill. He also said that, as there were some disagreements during the debate in the last parliament, it was likely that the bill would be dismissed if it was restored. MPs will also be prohibited from proposing a similar bill during this session, which Paradorn said would delay the constitutional amendment process until the next session.

People’s Party MP Parit Wacharasindhu wrote on Facebook that refusing to restore the constitutional amendment bill shows the government’s insincerity when it comes to constitutional amendments, even though 21.6 million people have voted in favour of a new referendum. The excuse that economic issues take priority for the Cabinet and so it cannot restore the bill or commit to proposing a new one is invalid, he wrote, as constitutional amendments and solving economic problems can be done at the same time.

Constitutional reform was approved in the 8 February 2026 referendum, after 58.64% of voters voted in favour of a new Constitution.

Constitutional reform has been included in policy statements delivered by several governments since the 2023 general election, including the statement delivered at the beginning of Anutin Charnvirakul’s first term as Prime Minister, which explicitly stated that the government would organize a constitutional amendment referendum. However, it was not included in the policy statement delivered in April 2026 when Anutin began his second term. Instead, the referendum on constitutional amendment is mentioned only as a task undertaken during Anutin’s first term.

Anutin became Prime Minister for the first time in September 2025, after the Bhumjaithai Party agreed to conditions put forward by the People’s Party, which at the time had the most seats in the House of Representatives. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the two parties stated that People’s Party MPs would back Anutin’s bid to become Prime Minister if Bhumjaithai committed to amending the Constitution, among other conditions.