Nikorn” still hopes that the 2 houses will find a conclusion on the draft of the referendum bill in time for the election of the provincial administrative organizations nationwide. Asks everyone to step back. Do not insist on causing the people to lose the opportunity to get a new constitution.
Mr. Nikorn Chamnong, Director of Chartthaipattana Party, mentioned the criticism that the amendment of the constitution is not urgent and should be urgently resolved to help flood victims. He said that the flood problem is an urgent matter that must be dealt with. However, the amendment of the constitution is something that all political parties have announced during the election campaign and is a policy of the government that has announced that a new constitution will be drafted. Therefore, it is considered an binding matter that must be done. However, there is currently a problem of deviations that affect the drafting of a new constitution. This has been foreshadowed since the consideration of the referendum bill,
which had different opinions. Originally, according to the draft of the Bhumjaithai Party, the half-vote criteria must be met, which is that there must be more than half of the voters and more than half of the voters must approve. There was a discussion and it was revised to 1 in 4, but later, when it was revised, each article had to be voted in by a referendum. Therefore, the Senate used this as an excuse and revised it to be a double majority or a two-tier referendum.
However, I personally do not give up hope. If we look at the timeline, the Senate did not drag the issue because it was already sent back to the House of Representatives. It will be considered on October 9th. I believe that the House of Representatives must not agree with the Senate’s amendment and must set up a joint committee of the two houses. Therefore, there is still a chance. On October 23rd, the joint committee of the two houses must decide on what to agree on. If the Senate confirms on October 27th and October 30th is the last day of
the House, if they agree, they can send it to the government to submit for royal endorsement. I believe that it will be in time. We can hold the first round of referendum in conjunction with the provincial administrative organization elections nationwide.
Mr. Nikorn said that he is currently worried that the issue of amending the referendum bill will go too far because under the power of the House of Representatives, it can confirm the amendment of the House of Representatives immediately, bypassing the Senate and waiting for 6 months. If this happens, the Cabinet can determine the matter of holding a referendum in a single stage, which is believed to pass for sure, but it will cost 3.5 billion baht because it will not be in time for the establishment of provincial administrative organizations nationwide. However, the problem is that when it returns to the parliament and wants to amend Section 256 of the constitution to draft a new constitution, the chance of getting 1 in 3 or 67 votes from the Senate will b
e difficult. This will make amending the constitution impossible, not even article by article, if the parliament turns its back on the Senate like this, which will cause more problems because every law must pass the Senate. Therefore, there should be no problems and we must work together.
As for the Bhumjaithai Party stating that amending the constitution is not urgent, Mr. Nikorn said that even though it is not urgent, there is no reason to drag this problem out. This matter is not urgent, but it is about what a law should be. He should not say that the Bhumjaithai Party is significantly involved with the Senate because they may only know each other and can be seen, but cannot be spoken about. He thinks that this matter should not be thought about who will gain what. He wants people to think from the other side that what will definitely be lost is the new constitution of the people. Therefore, he would like to ask that if this kind of problem occurs, who will be responsible?
‘If there is still time, I hope
. I have been hoping for over 20 years and will not back down. So until the end, I will continue to hope. 180 days is 180 days. If we can make up, I will continue to hope. Both houses must come together. We must give in. No matter who stands, we will not gain anything. And it is not that any party loses or anyone loses, but the people will lose opportunities. And the party’s position is that we want a completely new constitution because we drafted the 1997 constitution, but the party’s does not have the same articles as when Mr. Banharn Silpa-archa was. That is, there are no articles. How can we think on behalf of the people? We want a constitution that comes from the people and can be amended to some extent, not at all. We want the Constituent Assembly to draft it because it will reduce the conflict that this constitution comes from the military. The conflict will end,’ said Mr. Nikorn.
Source: Thai News Agency