Army chief says new constitution may not be completed earlier

Jul 1, 2007

BANGKOK, July 1 (Reuters) - Thailand's post-coup general election could be pushed back until early 2008 as legal experts fear a new constitution and other laws will not be finished as planned, army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said on Sunday.

Sonthi, who ousted Thaksin Shinawatra's government in a bloodless coup last year, told reporters he would meet Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to discuss possibly postponing the elections, originally set for end-2007, until a later date.

"Several academics have voiced their concern that the general election could not be held as planned, so I will bring this to discuss with the prime minister," Sonthi said.

It remains a distinct possibility that the charter being drawn up to replace the 1997 "People's Constitution" torn up in last September's military coup would be rejected in a plebiscite set for Aug. 19, analysts say.

Thaksin, currently living in exile, and his disbanded Thai Rak Thai party are expected to campaign vigorously against it.

They are likely to be joined by a variety of groups, ranging from those who want Buddhism, the faith of 90 percent of Thais, to become the state religion to rights activists who say some clauses in the new charter are affronts to democracy and freedom.

Surayud said in a television interview on Saturday that elections should be held between Nov. 25 and Dec. 23, the dates he has set, in order to regain investors' confidence.

But Sonthi told reporters the president of the army-appointed parliament had told him passage of the new charter and other related laws would take longer than expected, and so the election would have to be delayed.

Other army-back lawmakers said a fierce election campaign ahead of 80th birthday celebrations for the revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on Dec. 5 would not be appropriate.

Surayud told reporters on Sunday he would wait to see the result of the referendum before deciding on the final date for the general election.

"If it's doable, I wish to keep my words by holding the elections at the end of the year," said Surayud, whose popularity declined to 45.4 percent in a June survey released on Sunday by a Bangkok university, compared to 48.2 percent in February.

However, 65 percent of 3,000 respondents across the country wanted his interim government to continue working till the end of its term, set at year end, an Assumption University poll said.

Sonthi's comments prompted criticism from anti-coup activists that the coup leaders were trying to cling on to power, a charge Sonthi denied on Sunday.

At face value, the coup stemmed from middle-class street protests in 2006 against Thaksin's autocratic style and huge personal wealth, which his opponents say he wielded unfairly to secure unassailable support from the rural masses.

But analysts say it was as much about a royalist, military and business elite removing a nouveau riche, ethnic Chinese businessman who had encroached too far on their traditional turf.

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