Thailand has overwhelmingly voted to accept a new military-backed constitution, despite fears among critics that it will undermine the power of the next elected government. The Election Commission of Thailand released its “unofficial” results just hours after the polls closed on Sunday.
With 90% of the votes counted, about 61% of voters had backed the new charter – the country’s 20th constitution since 1932. A 55% turnout fell well short of the 80% the commission had forecast, falling short even of the 57% who voted in the country’s last referendum in 2007. (...)
Having taken power in a 2014 coup, Thailand’s interim, military-backed National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) had presented the referendum as a major step on its roadmap to “fully functioning democracy”.
It claims the new constitution will enhance the ability of the next government to fight against corruption, while ensuring that the current programme of reforms will not be cut short. However, rights groups say the constitution extends too much power to the unelected NCPO, meaning its influence would remain well past its interim tenure.
The NCPO, which toppled the government of Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup in May 2014, has stifled the media and banned political gatherings. Ahead of the referendum, political rallies and open discussion about the constitution were banned, and criticism of the draft was made punishable by 10 years in jail. The targeted suppression of no vote campaigners resulted in what Amnesty International called “excessive, unnecessary and unjustifiable restrictions.” (...)
Yingcheep Atchanont, a member of the ad-hoc Referendum Watch Network, told the Guardian that while it had concerns, no major voting irregularities had been witnessed by the group. “We have [received] a lot of reports, but they are mostly small things.”
Imagino que muita gente (incluindo eu) considere que, antes de um referendo, ser proibido (e punido com 10 anos de cadeia) criticar a proposta que vai a referendo, seja por si uma grande "irregularidade"...
Informação complementar:
Thailand constitutional referendum: all your questions answered (The Guardian)
1 comentários:
O mais espectacular no contexto multiplo da tormenta constitucional tailandesa são os pontos de convergência- económicos e politicos - com a derrapagem sem fim dos principios de equilibrio e equidade democráticos da " União " Europeia dos tempos que correm...O que, sobretudo tendo em conta o extraordinário peso económico da " UE " da Asia do Sudeste(ASEAN),em que a Tailândia, a Indonésia e Singapura são " modelos " de alto e qualificado desenvolvimento; tudo, com efeito, a projectar um insofismável processo quase incontrolável de crise da democracia representativa,em que as forças armadas surgem como alternativa incontornável para um sistema dominado pela corrupção politico-partidária em estado exponencial. Niet
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