Thailand's ruling party discusses Charter change

BANGKOK, January 5 (TNA) - Members of Thailand's ruling Puea Thai Party will organize a seminar, scheduled for January 6-7, to discuss a most appropriate way for amending the country's 2007 Constitution, written by a panel appointed by the military following the September 2006 bloodless coup. Speaking in a special interview with Thai News Agency (TNA) on Saturday, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Varathep Ratanakorn said that the two-day seminar was set to be held in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, or Korat, in the Thai Northeast, during which Puea Thai members are expected to discuss three alternatives in amending the present 2007 Charter, including pushing for the Parliament's passage for the third and final readings of a draft Constitution, amending the Charter article by article and organising a public referendum on the Charter change. Besides, Varathep said, the Puea Thai Party members are expected to confer several other issues, including works to be implemented by the ruling party in 2013. Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled on July 13, 2012, after the second reading of the amendment Charter bill sailed through the Parliament, that rewriting the entire 2007 Charter without a public referendum would be unconstitutional. Suggestions were made that the Thai government amend it section-by-section, instead of rewriting the entire 2007 Charter. (TNA)