On September 19, 2006, Thai military forces took control of government offices in Bangkok and overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government. The bloodless coup came after months of political turmoil, as Thaksin's government was plagued with allegations of corruption and abuses of power.
Following the coup, a ruling military junta was formed and an interim constitution imposed, outlining a one-year transitional period to draft a new permanent constitution and hold a constitutional referendum before the end of 2007. The Constitution Drafting Assembly, a body chosen from the interim legislature appointed by the junta, completed a preliminary draft of a new constitution at the end of April 2007. The following month, the Assembly disseminated the draft to a number of selected state institutes and non-governmental organizations for public comment. A final draft of the charter was publicly released by the Assembly in late June, and a copy was sent to every household in Thailand. The country's first-ever referendum was scheduled for August 19, 2007.
The participation of political parties under the constitutional drafting process was limited. Only four party representatives were admitted to the 242-seat interim legislature, and parties were hardly given any space to comment on earlier drafts of the new charter. The military junta imposed a ban on political party activity in the country until May 2007 when Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved after the Constitutional Tribunal found the party guilty of committing severe fraud in last year's general election.
In the run up to the referendum, state resources were used on campaigns urging citizens to vote. Three opposition parties -- the Democrat Party, Chart Thai Party and Mahachon Party -- formed an alliance and encouraged supporters to accept the draft. Members of the then-disbanded Thai Rak Thai party opposed a number of provisions and questioned the legitimacy of the entire process being driven by a military-backed constituent drafting assembly. However, despite this campaign to counter the new charter, Thai Rak Thai members declared they would respect the outcome of the referendum.
On August 19, close to 26 million of the 45 million eligible voters went to the polls to participate in the referendum -- this turnout of 58 percent is low by Thai standards. The new charter passed with 57 percent of voters approving the new charter. The Northeastern provinces, the traditional stronghold of Thai Rak Thai, accounted for more than eight million votes, 62 percent of which rejected the draft. The Southern provinces, which largely support the Democrat Party, had the largest number of voters in favor of the new charter; of the 3.7 million voters that participated, 87 percent voted for the new constitution. Overall, the referendum was administered efficiently and was without violence. There were allegations of vote-buying and the exertion of undue influence on voters in the run up to the referendum, particularly in the North and Northeastern regions, but these allegations were not considered serious enough by the Election Commission to have affected the outcome of the vote. With the passing of the new constitution, the interim government scheduled parliamentary elections to take place on December 23, 2007.
Source: www.ndi.org
