Thailand's draft post-coup charter completed

BANGKOK, July 6 (Reuters) An army-appointed commission unanimously approved Thailand's draft post-coup constitution today, paving the way for a referendum on it on Aug. 19 and a possible general election before the end of the year.

The 100-member Constitution Drafting Council says the new charter is more democratic than the 1997 ''People's Constitution'' torn up after the military overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup last year.

But the 309-article draft, which cuts the number of members of parliament and hands more powers to the courts, bureaucracy and military, could face serious opposition from Thaksin loyalists, human rights groups, academics and Buddhist activists.

Former members of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, disbanded last month on charges of electoral fraud, branded the charter ''retrograde'' and said it would mean a return to the fractious and unstable coalition politics of the 1990s.

''This charter has been drafted by dictators. How can we accept it?'' former Thaksin spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told 200 supporters in front of parliament during the council vote.

Thongchai Keuasakul, a retired army general who failed to get Buddhism declared the official state religion in the charter, said Buddhist advocacy groups would campaign against it.

''Millions of Buddhists will go to cast a 'no' vote for this charter,'' he told Reuters.

ROADMAP TO MYANMAR? The Asian Human Rights Commission issued a scathing critique of the army and its democracy roadmap, saying it bore ominous similarities to Myanmar, or Burma, whose putative new charter is widely dismissed as a smokescreen to keep the junta in power.

''Although the regime in Thailand has been at pains throughout to deny comparisons being made between it and its counterpart in neighbouring Burma, it is increasingly difficult to avoid them,'' the Hong Kong-based group said.

It urged Thais to reject what it called a ''bogus'' document.

The result of the referendum will decide when exactly the general election, tentatively scheduled for December, will be held, say the coup leaders and the government they appointed.

Some academics and pro-democracy activists have urged a ''No'' vote, saying the charter weakens the role of politicians in favour of unelected judges and bureaucrats. They say it leaves the door open to army influence in future politics.

''The 2007 charter sees politicians as super crooks,'' Rangsan Thanapornpun, an economist at Thammasat University, said at a recent seminar.

Posters urging Thais to vote for the charter have already appeared on Bangkok's streets, with similar messages carried in newspaper and radio advertisements.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont ordered top bureaucrats on Monday to help promote the new constitution. The army-appointed parliament is expected to finalise a bill this month to penalise anyone who obstructed or opposed the referendum.

If the draft charter is rejected, the coup leaders have said they will pick one of the previous constitutions and pass it within 30 days to allow for a general election.

Thaksin supporters said they were obliged to tell the people to oppose the charter, saying the document would pave the way for the coup generals to cling to power after the elections.

''There is no country on earth that holds a referendum on something and penalises those who campaign against it,'' former Thai Rak Thai spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said.

REUTERS GT RK1650