THAI VOTERS APPROVE NEW CHARTER

As exit polls show draft charter is approved by the majority of people nationwide, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont reiterates the general election will be held in December.

An exit poll conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University and an opinion survey conducted by Assumption University or Abac Poll indicate that the draft charter is approved by the majority of people nationwide, according to Modernnine TV.

The Suan Dusit exit poll showed 67.94% of the people nationwide voted for the draft charter while 32.02% voted against it.

In a breakdown by region, the “Yes” versus “No” votes were 75.49% to 24.51% in Bangkok; 57.07% to 42.93% in the Northeast; 65.58% to 34.42% in the North; 77.73% to 22.27% in the Central Region; and 78.17% to 21.83% in the South.

Abac Poll, which was conducted one about 5,200 people throughtout the country three days before the referendum day, showed that 70.7% of the eligible voters nationwide voted for the draft charter while 29.3% voted against it.

In a breakdown by region, the “Yes” versus “No” votes were 59.7% to 29.3% in Bangkok; 60.6% to 39.4% in the Northeast; 74.5% to 25.5% in the North; 70% to 30% in the Central Region; and 90.1% to 9.9% in the South.

Unofficial results of the referendum are expected at about 9 or 10 p.m. tonight.

Reacting to the exit polls results, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont told the television this afternoon that the results showed that the majority of the Thai people wanted the country to move on towards democratic rule.

Assuming that the draft charter passes the referendum, the prime minister said that the government would submit the draft to HM the King for approval and it is expected to come into force by the end of this month.

He said that, from now on, all political parties can fully conduct political activities and present their political platforms to the people. He also expected several former MPs to shift from one party to another.

After the promulgation of the new charter, the prime minister said that the government’s main tasks were to maintain peace and order and to ram through the parliament several important bills.

Asked about the new charter and the 1997 Constitution, the prime minister said the writers of the new charter had tried to close the flaws and loopholes of the previous charter.

He admitted that it was normal that there were people who opposed the new draft charter.Asked whether there will be another coup, the prime minister explained that the last September 19 coup to overthrow the Thaksin regime did not take place by itself but stemmed from bad governance of the previous regime.

A Constitution, he said, is not a foolproof against a coup. Whether there will be another coup or not depends on how the country is being governed and the people who run the government whether it complies to good governance or not, he explained.

The prime minister reiterated that the elections would definitely be held at the end of this year with the suitable timing to be after the celebrations of HM the King’s birthday anniversary. Earlier, he said the elections should be held either on December 16 or December 23.

With the endorsement of the draft charter in the referendum, three important related laws are to be enacted before the elections.

They are the Election Act, the Election Commission Act and the Political Party Act. The interim Constitution stipulates that the three laws must be promulgated 45 days after the passage of the new charter. This means the three organic laws are to become effective by October 4.