Thai PM:Charter amendments need long time

BANGKOK, December 15 (TNA) - Reiterating that a public referendum should be the most appropriate way for Thailand's Constitutional amendments because the government wants people to gain a proper understanding on the need to amend the present 2010 Charter, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra acknowledged on Saturday that it requires a plenty of time for the Charter change. Yingluck said during her weekly TV and radio programme that both the justice and the interior ministers will then make a conclusion on eligible voters preferring either a public referendum or a public forum in conducting the Charter amendments. Yingluck noted if the majority of the voters agreed with conducting the public referendum, the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) would proceed with the required process. According to the prime minister, no matter what the outcome of the Thai voters' decision is, the third and the final reading of the planned Constitutional amendments, in accordance with the required Article 291 for the creation of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, would still take a long time. 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 have been aired that the government should amend the Constitution section-by-section, instead of rewriting the entire Charter. (TNA)