Voters in Thailand approved the new constitutional referendum proposed by the military-backed government which seized power in September, 2006. Exit polls showed that 70% of the votes were posted in favor of the draft constitution, which would replace a 1997 constitution.
A diverse group of opponents has been campaigning against the basic law, warning it will only empower the nation’s bureaucracy and the military at the expense of elected leaders. On 18th August, opposition leaders of the ‘Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship’ released 1,000 red balloons in Bangkok urging voters to reject the draft charter.
An estimated 45 million Thais were eligible to vote. About 60% of Thailand’s voters turned out on 19th August – anything less than a 50 percent voter turnout would have been interpreted as a condemnation of last year’s coup. Earlier, the government has deployed 15,000 troops to increase security for the country’s first-ever referendum at 810 polling stations in the trouble-torn deep South. All the nation’s security forces have been enlisted to campaign for the charter. TV stations, all under government or military control, have run a steady stream of adverts reminding people to vote; it worked.
The ousted democratic government and this military installed government, both had / have trouble in tackling the Muslim Insurgences of the South. The area has witnessed more than 2,300 slayings since January, 2004, when Muslim militants stormed an army arms depot and stole 300 war weapons, signaling an escalation in the separatist struggle that has simmered on and off in the area for the past five decades. The three provinces are already under “emergency decree,” allowing authorities to detain suspects without charges for up to a month. Most Muslim organizations in the area have said they will support the new constitution, Thailand’s 18th since the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932. Nearly 80 per cent of the 2 million people living in the three southernmost provinces profess to be Muslims, making the Thai Buddhists of the deep South a minority community in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. The three-province area, which borders Malaysia, comprised an independent Islamic sultanate known as Pattani for hundreds of years before being conquered by Bangkok in 1786. The area came under direct rule of the Bangkok bureaucracy in 1902.
This new constitution gives the military too many liberties and leaves the country vulnerable to a future of military coups too similar to its pastn. a rejection of the charter could re-ignite political tensions, delaying elections and injecting fresh uncertainty into Thailand’s wobbly economy.
On recent development, a 300-strong paramilitary ranger task force detained 18 insurgent suspects and seized weapons on Friday, during a raid in Sungai Padi district of Thailand’s far southern province Narathiwat. The raid was a follow-up operation after a clash between authorities and militants in the area on Aug. 10, Thai News Agency reported. The rangers also confiscated ammunition, radio transceivers, 20 mobile phones, and remote control circuitry. All detainees will be questioned by the police and undergo forensic tests.
While ousted Premier’s football Club Manchester City beats mighty Man United in England on 19th, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, received a prestigious military award from Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean. The Meritorious Service Medal was awarded to Sonthi in recognition of his contributions toward enhancing the strong ties between the Singapore and Thai Armies.
- A total of 45,671,531 eligible voters throughout the country had been urged to cast their ballots in Thailand’s first-ever national referendum during the given eight-hour polling.
The Suan Dusit Poll said it surveyed 20,237 voters around the country and found that 67.94 percent of the surveyed voters endorsed the draft while the remaining 32.06 percent voted against the draft.
In Bangkok, 75.49 percent of voters accepted the charter while only 24.51 percent rejected it.
In other provinces apart from Bangkok, 67.56 percent of voters voted yes while 32.44 percent voted no.
In the northern and northeastern regions, considered as the strongholds of the former ruling party Thai Rak Thai and its founder, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, some 65.58 and 57.07 percent “Yes” votes were counted respectively, according to the poll.
Another exit poll carried out by Ramkhamhaeng University found that 60.19 percent of 17,346 voters nationwide it surveyed approved the draft constitution, while the other 39.81 percent voted against it.
