Parliament The House of Representatives discussed a motion to move forward, asking the Cabinet to hold a referendum on the draft Constitution, calling on the words of MPs to express their standpoints as in late 2022. "Pheu Thai" confirmed its position on amending the Constitution, but I would like to refrain from performing religious acts, citing the senator waiting to intervene.
Reporters reported that At the meeting of the House of Representatives with Mr. Padipat Santiphada, 1st Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, acting as chairman of the meeting. Considered the motion to ask the House of Representatives to consider approving and notify the Cabinet to hold a referendum to ask people's opinions on the preparation of a new constitution. with Mr. Parit Watcharasindu, Party list MP, Progressive Party, as the proponent.
Mr. Prit introduced the motion that the Kao Klai Party would like to confirm that amending each section alone is not enough to solve all problems. But we need to draft a new constitution that has democratic legitimacy. Because the current constitution has problems with a lack of legitimacy, both in origin, process, and content. However, there are now protests that Holding at least two referendums: before and after drafting the constitution. After the draft Many parties did not protest. But what is still debated is how many times before drafting the constitution must it be done?
Mr. Prit further said that in order to have members of the Constitutional Drafting Assembly (MPs), they must propose amendments to the current constitution. To add to this According to the Constitution, Section 256 (8) stipulates that in order to amend the Constitution, a referendum must be held first. This corresponds to the decision of the Constitutional Court. But some parties interpret that a referendum must be held before amending the 2017 constitution. Therefore, it has become a debate that before there are MPs, there must be a referendum 1-2 times, which in politics The Progressive Party can accept it. If there will be one more referendum, a total of 2 times, before there is an MP.
Mr. Prit further said that 100% of the House of Representatives must be elected. As for the concern that there will be no experts to draft the new constitution, the House of Representatives is open to having experts. Come in and introduce. Can give advice While the concern is that Drafting the constitution will change the form of the state and government. According to Section 255 of the Constitution, it is prohibited that such action is absolutely impossible.
“The questions we have presented will be asked in the referendum. It is a question that every political party asks when the House of Representatives The previous set has been presented before. It's not a new question. Because it had been proposed by Mr. Nattawut Buaprathum from the Progressive Party. and Mr. Chulphan Amornvivat from the Pheu Thai Party It was here in 65 and even more. In the last motion in November 2022, it received an overwhelming unanimous vote from all main political parties. Therefore, all MPs who had previously given approval I believe that less than 1 year has passed. There is no reason to MPs change their position But if they change their stance, I hope that those MPs will take responsibility for debate with the House. Why the position has changed,” Mr. Prit said.
It was found that those supporting the said motion were MPs from the Progressive Party. emphasizing that the government should listen to proposals from the council about moving forward with the referendum that must be open to campaigning by people on all sides Including not closing the opportunity to amend the entire constitution. Because it will affect the legitimacy of the preparation of the new constitution. By Mr. Rangsiman Rome, MP for the Move Forward Party, discussed that he asked the House of Representatives to do the right thing. Even if some people are unable to give their opinion. But please abstain from voting, do not overturn. If you are going to overturn, please go to the Senate to uphold the honor of the MPs representing the people.
While the discussion of Coalition MPs Expressing clearly that he does not support the motion of the Progressive Party Because it may create a blemish on the referendum process. This is because the parliamentary mechanism must also rely on the approval of the Senate.
By Mr. Noppadon Pattama, MP for the Pheu Thai Party, discussed that the Pheu Thai Party supports the referendum. and amend the new constitution by MPs who are elected by the people. The government has set up a committee. Mr. Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, is the chairman of the committee. to carry out The committee asked for time to work until the end of the year. And now there are 2 months left, which he believes the working group definitely doesn't want to buy time for. Hopefully there will be no news stating that the coalition government overturned the motion. to block the referendum
“The Pheu Thai Party has a firm stance that it will not amend Section 1 and Section 2 of the Constitution. Therefore, there may be differences in the referendum question. For such a motion to succeed, it must be sent to the Senate and The Cabinet has discretion whether to approve it or not. I think that success doesn't happen much. Therefore, you should wait for the work of the committee. To give an opportunity for success in amending the constitution to make it democratic by MPs and to confirm that the Pheu Thai Party will not renege on the promises it made to the people during the campaign,” Mr. Noppadol said.
As well as coalition government MPs such as Mr. Atthakorn Sirilatthayakorn, Chachoengsao MP. Palang Pracharat Party, Mr. Paradorn Prisanananantakul, Ang Thong MP, Bhumjaithai Party Those who discussed the matter disagreed with the said motion and stated that it should not be interpreted that disapproval of the said motion is an obstruction of amending the constitution or holding a referendum. Because at this time the government is in the process of taking action. However, the discussion of There are more than 40 MPs in the motion who have initially signed their names.
Source: Thai News Agency