FOR more than two years Thailand’s ruling junta—which seized power in a coup in 2014—has been cooking up a constitution which it hopes will keep military men in control even after fresh elections take place. In August the generals won approval for the document in a referendum made farcical by a law which forbade campaigners from criticising the text. Yet on January 10th, only weeks before the new charter was supposed to come into force, the prime minister said his government was tweaking the draft. Prayuth Chan-ocha said changes were necessary because King Vajiralongkorn, the country’s constitutional monarch, had declined to give the document royal assent.
There is much to dislike about the proposed constitution, which will keep elected governments beholden to a senate nominated by the junta and to a suite of meddling committees. But Mr Prayuth says the king’s objections relate only to “three or four” articles—all of which appear to limit the sovereign’s power slightly. The generals say the palace has asked them to amend a rule which requires the monarch to nominate a regent when he is absent from the kingdom (probably because King...Continue reading
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