He was responding to an incident yesterday when United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leader Jatuporn Prompan was escorted by military officials to the First Army Region after he announced he would campaign to have the public reject the draft in a referendum.

Prawit said methods used to criticise the charter must be civilised. “Do not use a word such as dictatorship. Do not meddle in the National Council for Peace and Order work. It is not the time to instigate protests or rallies,” he said.

He added that the government would “invite” anyone to have their attitude adjusted if they continued to misbehave.

He said critics of the charter draft must use reason and not instigate conflicts. “The charter is important and they should criticise the intention behind having this version of the draft. The country is in a transition, we must have an internationally accepted charter.”

He said political parties could announce their stances over whether they would accept or reject the charter draft if they resorted to logic and did not just insult it. “The Constitution Drafting Commission [CDC] are senior figures of the country that deserve respect and moral support. They have the intention to make the country move forward and not to bully anyone. What is clear in the charter is an anti-graft mechanism. It is an acceptable version to me. The CDC has tried its best drafting it,” he said.

Responding to concern that the writing of organic charter laws would delay the election, the deputy PM insisted that the democracy roadmap would not be deferred and the general election must be held next year.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party deputy leader Ong-art Klampaiboon said his party would not team up with the Pheu Thai Party to oppose the charter.

Pheu Thai Party caretaker secretary general Phumtham Wechayachai had said Pheu Thai would ask the Democrats to join forces to reject the draft.

Ong-art said the draft had not been finalised and he believed it would be improved after a review.