Thai Parliament rejects another attempt at democratic reforms

[BANGKOK] Thailand's Parliament voted yet again to reject a charter overhaul proposed by pro-democracy activists seeking to eliminate the legacy of the 2014 army coup.

This was the second time in about a year that the Parliament, dominated by royalist lawmakers, pushed back against the rewriting of the military-drafted constitution that anti-government protesters have been pushing for the past 16 months to make it more democratic.

The charter amendment submitted to the Parliament by Re-Solution group, which gathered more than 150,000 signatures, seeks to remove the elements of the post-coup military government, including the junta-appointed Senate and the 20-year national strategy, as well as the Constitutional Court.

While the opposition bloc led by largest party Pheu Thai backed the proposed amendment, the ruling coalition which commands a lower house-majority and the Senate mostly voted against the overhaul. In the joint session on Wednesday, 473 lawmakers, or about 65 per cent, rejected the amendment, while 206 voted in favour and 6 abstained.

This is the latest attempt by the establishment to block efforts by pro-democracy factions from rewriting the constitution before the next elections, which could come as soon as early 2022.

Wednesday's vote comes a week after the Constitutional Court ruled that protesters' demands to reform the monarchy violated a provision in the charter that bans any move to "overthrow" the royal institution, which prompted a demonstration on Sunday in Bangkok that ended with at least three injured.

Thai protesters have broken long-held taboos about publicly criticising the royal family and questioning laws that stifle discussion of the monarchy. They view the current charter as instrumental in helping the royalist establishment retain its grip on power, with coup leader and former army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha returning as premier after the 2019 elections.

Almost exactly a year ago, on Nov 18, 2020, the Parliament had voted to reject a similar amendment proposed by members of the public. About 70 per cent of lawmakers from both houses either voted against the draft or abstained from voting.

BLOOMBERG