Guidelines for Organizational Design and Process of Drafting a Constitution for New Political Reform

Abstract

The purpose of this research article is to study and analyze organizational forms and methods for drafting a constitution, specifically regarding the establishment of a constitution drafting organization and methods for drafting a new constitution that is appropriate for Thailand.

The study’s findings indicated that the 1997 Constitution failed to bring about the intended political reform. The “elective dictatorship” scenario sparked political unrest and the coup on 19 September 2006. However, the 2007 Constitution also failed to prevent and put an end to political unrest, which resulted in another coup on 22 May 2014. Although the 2017 Constitution took three years to draft and was approved by all parties, it was not the solution to democracy that all parties agree upon. In particular, the process of amending the constitution and the conditions surrounding the majority of parliamentarians voting on the constitutional amendment bill demonstrated the “structural obstacles” in amending the 2017 Constitution, particularly if the goal was to amend the entire constitution to create a new one. There will, of course, be fierce opposition from within the political system. Consequently, it was ultimately impossible to draft a new constitution.

The author suggests that representatives from the National Assembly should serve on the committee tasked with drafting the constitution. Each province’s members conduct an internal recruitment process to select ten members, and MPs select one member from each province in addition to 22 specialists in political science, public law, and constitution drafting. There are 99 persons in the membership as a whole. Every stage of the drafting process places a strong emphasis on participation and hearing viewpoints from all relevant parties. Before becoming enforceable, the outcome will be reviewed by lawmakers and approved by the referendum.