The party said coup-makers had earlier achieved their four-step mission – of toppling the Thaksin regime; confiscating assets and prosecuting the Thaksincamp; dissolving the Thai Rak Thai Party and banning its party executives from politics for five years; and supporting Pheu Thai’s rival political camp to rise to power.

After the junta brought down the Yingluck government in the May 2014 coup, the Constitution Drafting Commission led by Meechai Ruchupan has drafted a charter that would provide another four-step strategy to eradicate the Pheu Thai Party legally and constitutionally, the statement said.

The charter draft proposes a single ballot election system, indirect election of senators, provision for a non-elected PM, as well as empowering the Constitutional Court to have power over all state agencies. The current draft makes it almost impossible for politicians to amend the charter, and politicians are governed by strict rules.

These rules are aimed at stopping Pheu Thai from winning the election and even ifPheu Thai wins the election, it will be a weak government that cannot solve problems or it may have to support a non-elected PM, the statement said.

The Constitutional Court will be in a position to overthrow a Pheu Thai-led government, without the need for a coup The country will be ruled by agencies that are not linked to the majority of people but a small group of people, the statement added.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard demanded that the government provide true information to the public about foreign direct investment (FDI). He dismissed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s statement that Thailand is a magnet for foreign investment as “the opposite of the truth”. He said foreign investment had plunged by Bt90 billion and FDI from Japan had dropped 81 per cent.

Nuttawut Saikuar, a Pheu Thai politician and a leader of the red shirts’ United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, yesterday criticised the government’s proposal to have two periods in enforcing the new charter.

Political ploy

He said the proposal was suggested because the current government wanted to give itself absolute control while a general election is being held and to ensure that the government that wins the election continues its power.

Nuttawut said the move could be a political ploy to make critics attack the charter draft and the CDC could then throw away the proposal saying it accepts the criticism. He said after maintaining Article 44 to give the PM absolute control, there was no need to make other rules to ensure the PM’s full power.

In a related development, Democrat Party spokesman Ramet Rattanachaweng yesterday demanded that the interim charter be amended to make clarify about the public referendum.

“If the charter draft does not pass in the referendum, the government must clearly state its options so that the public can have such information before deciding how to vote in the referendum,” he said.

Ramet also called on the government to regulate social media, especially Facebook. “There has been distortion and mudslinging at the Democrats, that we attempted to bring down the Yingluck government over the rice-pledging scheme,” he said.

He said the party had filed a police complaint over the attack on the party at Dusit District Police Station.