Thai ex-PM says will vote against junta-drafted charter

By CS Thana

BANGKOK (AA) - Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra posted online Tuesday that she would vote against a draft constitution backed by the military that overthrew her government in 2014 in an upcoming referendum.

She posted on her Facebook account that she would vote against both the constitution and the proposition question calling for a military appointed senate during Sunday’s vote.

"I will go out and use my right to vote to vote against a charter that doesn't fully represent the will of the people," she said.

The government of Yingluck -- the sister of the junta's charismatic nemesis, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup -- was toppled in May 2014 when the military took power in a bloodless coup.

The military had claimed to be stepping in to restore order after months of street protests had deadlocked the country and stagnated the economy.

It insisted that drafting a constitution was one of its priorities before restoring the country to democracy.

Critics, however, accuse the military drafted charter of being undemocratic as it contains a clause for a fully appointed senate, with junta opponents also fearing that it would allow a military officer or a civilian acting on behalf of the military to become premier.

The electoral commission, an official agency, has banned all criticisms of the draft charter, along with the wearing of T-shirts calling for voters to reject the draft at the referendum.