Parit Wacharasindhu, a People's Party list-MP, has called on the ruling Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) to show a genuine commitment to drafting a new constitution, arguing that a fully elected Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) remains possible and should not be blocked by what he called an ambiguous Constitutional Court ruling.
Mr Parit, also chairman of the opposition whip, said the party maintains that a new charter should be drafted by a CDA elected entirely by the public.
He said Constitutional Court ruling No.18/2025 held that parliament may not let the public directly elect the drafters -- a position his party rejected. That prompted the Senate committee on political development and the House committee on court affairs to seek clarification from the court's president.
The president explained that the public could directly elect members of a CDA, and that the ruling barred only the direct election of the drafting committee that carries out the technical charter writing, Mr Parit said. Under that reading, an elected CDA could appoint a drafting committee and then approve the completed draft.
Addressing criticism that this amounted only to the personal views of the judges present, Mr Parit said the president had stressed he was conveying the collective understanding of all Constitutional Court judges before the ruling was issued on Sept 10 last year, not a personal opinion.
He said the next steps included pushing for an elected CDA and backing the citizens' draft, which has gathered more than 23,000 of the 50,000 signatures needed for parliamentary submission.
Responding, Nikorn Chamnong, a BJT list-MP, maintained that the consultation with the court president was guidance, not a legally binding ruling. He denied distorting the court's position and accused opposition leaders of presenting the discussion as a settled legal conclusion.
Mr Nikorn argued that similar assumptions about the number of referendums had proved wrong, and urged those promoting such interpretations to accept responsibility for misleading the public.
