Bangkok, Aug 19 (DPA) Thailand held its first-ever referendum Sunday to decide the fate of their 18th constitution since 1932 and determine the country’s future democratic direction.
Some 45 million Thais were eligible to vote in the plebiscite that ended at 4 p.m. The turnout in Bangkok was similar to past elections at about 60 to 70 percent, polling booth officials said.
According to an exit poll conducted by the Rajabhat Suan Dusit Institute, 67.94 percent of voters accepted the draft charter while 32.06 percent did not.
Opinion polls conducted prior sto the referendum indicated that the majority of Thais would endorse the new military-sponsored charter, primarily because the people are weary of political turmoil and want an elected government in place.
“I want the constitution to pass because our country has been in pain for too long,” said Cha, 37, a voter at Sethi Park polling station in Bangkok Sunday morning, who preferred to use his nickname.
Thailand has been under a junta-appointed interim government since Sep 19, when the army ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on charges of corruption, undermining the democratic system and dividing the nation.
The coup also annulled Thailand’s 1997 constitution, deemed by many to be have been the kingdom’s most liberal and participatory charter to date.
The 1997 charter, however, gave rise to Thaksin, a billionaire populist politician who became one of the most divisive figures in Thailand’s recent political history.
Thailand has been in political turmoil since Jan 2006, when a strong anti-Thaksin movement took off in Bangkok and built in force until it culminated in the September coup.
Thaksin, a former telecommunications magnate, came to power on a populist platform in 2001 and proceeded to strengthen his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party by merging with other parties and creating a parliamentary majority never before achieved under Thailand’s traditional system of weak coalition governments.
Thaksin and the TRT also managed to undermine the independent bodies established by the 1997 charter to act as checks and balances against a strong executive by manipulating the selection process.
While Thaksin’s autocratic rule and self-serving policies eventually outraged the Bangkok-based Thai elite and middle class, his populist policies and crackdowns on drug lords brought him many supporters in the countryside, especially the impoverished north-east region.
“Thaksin was the only one who stood up against the drug mafia,” said Noi, 53, a restaurant owner in Kalasin town, 500 km northeast of Bangkok.
Thaksin’s so-called “war on drugs” in 2003 claimed the lives of 2,500 alleged methamphetamine dealers, most of them through extra-judicial slayings that left a smudge on Thailand’s human rights record but was hugely popular among many people.
“Now that he’s gone the drugs are back. I’m voting against the constitution because it’s a step backwards for democracy,” added Noi, another nickname.
The 1997 constitution, written in the aftermath of a bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in May 1992, aimed primarily at strengthening Thailand’s traditionally weak political party system.
The 2007 charter has been drafted to prevent the rise of another Thaksin-like leader who can monopolize Thailand’s political system through wealth and populist policies.
If the charter is rejected the military will choose another one from among Thailand’s past 17 constitutions.
Opponents to the 2007 charter criticize it as a step backward for Thailand’s political party system, and a revival of the rule of the traditional elite – the bureaucracy and the military.
The charter includes an amnesty for the coup makers and, more worrisome, a vague clause that seems to give the military the right to interfere in politics in the future.
Army General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council for National Security – the formal name for the junta – expressed few concerns about the outcome of the referendum when he cast his ballot Sunday morning in Lop Buri province.
When asked whether the military would annul more constitutions in the future, Sonthi told reporters, “If the future government runs the country with patriotism and integrity, no one will topple the constitution again. So, I rest my hope on how the people will select the future governments,” The Nation online news service reported.