By Xinhua,
Bangkok : Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Tuesday the cabinet approved the plan to hold a national referendum on the proposed constitution amendment.
Samak said his government has two options to pave the way for the referendum: to wait for the consideration of the Council of State to see whether the 1998 referendum law could still be used. If not, the government will assign the Election Commission (EC) to draft a new referendum law, the Bangkok Post website reported.
The premier said the EC has promised to complete the work before the opening of a planned special parliamentary session to discuss the constitution amendment.
Samak said the government will not meddle with the plan to amend the charter if the referendum shows that a majority of the people disagree with the idea, according to the report.
The cabinet’s approval came after the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) launched a new round of street protests on Monday in central Bangkok to oppose the government’s pushing ahead the plan to amend the 2007 Constitution, which was installed by the junta and passed a national referendum last August after a military coup toppled the former government led by Thaksin Shinawatra in September, 2006 and abrogated the 1997 Constitution.