<p>Thailand’s Office of the Ombudsman has concluded that the Referendum Act might be unconstitutional as its ambiguity allows the authorities to clamp down on the draft charter critics.</p> <p>Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman, on Wednesday, 1 June 2016, announced that the Ombudsman’s Office will submit a request to the Constitutional Court to rule whether the 2016 Referendum Act is unconstitutional or not. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Former senators, human rights and election commissioners have pointed out that the laws regulating campaigns before the referendum to pass the junta-sponsored draft constitution ironically go against the junta’s Interim Charter.</p> <p>Jon Ungpakorn, a former senator and current director of iLaw, a human rights advocacy group, Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator, and Niran Pitakwatchara, former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, submitted a letter to Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman.</p>