He said he could not accept the draft as it was intended to sabotage the country’s democracy.

He said the charter draft also aimed to increase the power of independent agencies relative to the people unlike the 2007 charter.

Nuttawut alleged that the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) charter draft, an effort led by Meechai Ruchupan, aimed to help political parties to form the next government and provided a political mechanism to allow outsiders to rise to power. The charter also sought to empower the Constitutional Court to punish elected governments and to empower independent agencies.

“The CDC must embrace a new way of thinking by writing a charter that is democratic and only then can a general election be held. We still have conflicts because we do not have democracy. If we do not correct the situation, we will continue to face a vicious circle,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that the CDC has the right to call its charter draft “the corruption-buster charter draft” if it had the intention to make anti-graft its main focus.

“It is just a designation or nickname not an official name,” he said, adding he had not seen details of the charter draft.