Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday that she rejected the draft structure sponsored by the generals who overthrew her government two years ago and would vote against it in an Aug. 7 referendum.
The referendum is a very important step for the military government that took power after a coup in May 2014, attempting to shape a political system it hopes will end a decade of turmoil in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.
Critics say the charter will entrench military rule, weaken democratically elected governments and do little to fix political divisions.
Following the complete process and content of the project, I see that it’s incompatible with democracy. That’s why I reject this project
Yingluck’s party had already rejected the draft statute, as had the leader of its essential rival, and he or she confirmed their criticism, calling it undemocratic.
“Following the entire process and content of the project, I see that it is incompatible with democracy,” Yingluck wrote on her Facebook page. “That’s why I reject this project,” she said, adding that she would vote “no” on Sunday.
Yingluck, the sister of populist former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was also ousted within the coup, was impeached last yr by a junta-appointed assembly over a failed rice subsidy program and banned from politics for five years.
The military says the proposed structure would pave the way in which for 2017 general elections and produce clean, stable politics to a rustic rocked by years of unrest as former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin and his supporters challenged the military and royalist establishment. Critics say this is meant to limit elected governments, mainly through the designated upper house of parliament.
Since the coup, the federal government has suppressed dissent and has been particularly sensitive to criticism of the Charter, limiting debate, introducing a law setting a 10-year prison sentence for anyone campaigning ahead of the vote and detaining activists.
Former member of parliament for Yingluck’s party and 10 others were charged on Tuesday with sedition and criminal cooperation after they were accused of attempting to spread disinformation in regards to the structure.
Nineteen Shinawatra supporters were also charged on Tuesday with violating the assembly ban after attempting to arrange referendum monitoring centers that they said were geared toward stopping vote fraud. Preliminary results are expected on the identical day because the vote.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said elections could be held in 2017 whatever the result.
