By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) – Three separate referendums must be held before the country can replace its 2017 junta-drafted Constitution, Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday.
The first ballot will decide whether a new constitution should be drafted, while a second will determine the process and key elements of the charter. Both may be held together, the court said, but a third nationwide vote will be required to approve the final text, according to the state Thai Public Broadcasting Service.
The court also blocked direct popular elections for members of an assembly to draft a new charter, meaning any new process would still be tightly controlled.
-Military dominance
Thailand, a constitutional monarchy, has gone through 19 coups since the 1930s, with the military governing for more years than civilians.
The latest takeover came in 2014, when then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted. Coup leader Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha oversaw five years of junta rule before lifting restrictions in 2019, but the 2017 Constitution drafted under the military remains in place.
Thailand’s cycle of military interventions began in 1932, when King Prajadhipok ended seven centuries of absolute monarchy by signing the nation’s first Constitution.
-Shinawatra family
The ruling comes as the powerful Shinawatra family again dominates headlines.
Yingluck’s brother and former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup, was jailed Tuesday to serve a one-year sentence for political abuse.
Her daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who briefly served as prime minister, was removed this year after the court ruled that she violated ethical standards during a phone call with Cambodian leader Hun Sen in which she criticized a senior Thai general.
The two discussed border clashes in July that killed dozens before a ceasefire was reached.