Thailand draft constitution presented by military-backed commission

The Constitution Drafting Council in Thailand [JURIST news archive] Wednesday presented the new draft constitution, which will be put to a referendum later this month. The 2007 draft, which would replace the 1997 constitution [text], calls for national elections to take place by the end of 2007. The 35-member drafting committee said the new constitution will prevent graft and restore democracy to the nation; new provisions address abuses of power and appear to limit the power of elected politicians. The draft constitution limits prime ministers to two four-year terms, and reduces the number of parliament members from 500 to 400 and the number of senators from 200 to 160. Under the new constitution, senators will be appointed rather than elected. A new provision also mandates that any lawmaker found guilty of corruption in a criminal or civil court is automatically removed from office.

Thailand is presently governed by an interim constitution [JURIST report] imposed by the military leaders who seized power from former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra [JURIST news archive] in a coup [JURIST report] last year. The Constitutional Drafting Council was established [JURIST report] in January and given a six-month deadline to prepare the new constitution. Military leaders have said that if this new draft constitution is not approved by the public, they will impose their own constitution. AFP has more.

Blogmaster said... I 'm not faith in this dictator's constitution , Team of draft appointed by the coup , most of them are old technocrats and bureaucrats, they have not ever understand that what people want. They have just draft it by guide order from military coup and feudalism group that they hate politicians and not faith in democracy, they 'r not trust in politicians and usually affront to the people that they 'r foolish , greedy and lack of information. It 's crazy !!

The special issue of this coup's constitution that if It have the political deadlock then they will be appoint the special committee to solve their problem. I've never heard before , what 's committee ? Almost of them will come from bureaucrats. I don't understand why we have to appoint the important decision to them in place of us.

Why don't we appoint them to choose the government in the name of us ?
Why do we have to waste time and budget for the election ?