In Thailand, parliament rejects motion asking cabinet for referendum on charter rewrite

The House of Representatives on [25 October] voted 262:162 to reject a motion asking the cabinet to hold a public referendum on a charter rewrite. The vote came after the MPs spent more than four hours debating the motion proposed by the main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP). [...] Pheu Thai list-MP Chaturon Chaisaeng said the ruling party was not opposed to the MFP’s motion because charter amendments required cooperation from all sides to succeed. However, he said the referendum law needs to be amended first because its requirements make it extremely difficult for a charter rewrite proposal to be adopted. [...] Meanwhile, the government is set to gather public opinions on the planned referendum on a constitutional amendment from various groups. The sub-panels set up by the government committee studying a referendum on amending the charter met on [25 October] to discuss their tasks. One sub-panel is gauging the public’s opinion on the matter and the other is responsible for drawing up a guideline for a referendum.
Read the full article here: Khmer Times