The resolution clears up an ambiguity in the interim charter.

Some analysts had interpreted Article 37 of the interim charter as meaning that the majority of votes of “eligible voters” were required to pass the referendum. Others said passage should depend only a majority of voters who actually turned out for the referendum because otherwise it would be nearly impossible for the charter to pass.

After a joint meeting yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said the Election Commission (EC) had proposed that the interim charter be amended to stipulate that the referendum could pass with a simple majority of votes cast, noting that abstentions and voided ballots were not counted as votes.

“For instance, if the ‘yes’ votes are 8 million when the ‘no’ votes are 5 million and the abstentions and the voided votes total 12 million, the charter still passes the referendum. This is because the ‘yes’ votes outnumber the ‘no’,” he said.

Wissanu expressed confidence that the stipulation did not allow for any loopholes and that there should not be further doubts on the issue.

The deputy PM said the Cabinet and the NCPO had not discussed yesterday further options if the referendum fails to pass.

“It was no use discussing that today because we don’t know whether it will pass or fail. If it passes, we won’t have to come up with any plans,” Wissanu said. “If we say that the 1997 Constitution will be used when the charter fails then questions will arise: why we don’t choose the 2007 or the 1978 versions and so on. And we cannot just ask open-ended questions like ‘what would you like it to be after the charter is rejected?’ because the referendum does not work that way.”

The meeting also resolved that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) could propose additional questions to ask people in a referendum.

The previously planned referendum for the first charter draft, which was subsequently rejected, would have allowed the now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC) to propose a question to be raised in the referendum, but for the new referendum the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) will not have that authority, which will be limited only to the NLA.

Wissanu added that the NLA’s questions could be submitted directly to the EC without being censored by the government.

In regard to the distribution of the charter draft, Wissanu said they had resolved to repeal a stipulation that copies of the draft should be distributed to at least 80 per cent of the total eligible households.

He explained there were other means whereby voters could read the charter draft before casting their votes. The Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) was working on expanding access, he said, including publishing the draft content online.

Additionally, any citizen 18 or older on the day of the referendum would be eligible to vote, Wissanu said.

The meeting resolved yesterday that a plebiscite would be governed by two laws, Wissanu said, including the amended version of the 2014 interim charter and the referendum voting bill, which would be the responsibility of the EC.

EC commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said yesterday the referendum bill had already been initially developed and revised. The EC would endorse the draft in a meeting before forwarding it to the Cabinet this week, he said.

On Monday, Wissanu sent back the previous draft to the EC, questioning a proposal to use Article 44, which grants the NCPO sweeping powers, to oversee referendum campaigns instead of issuing a new law.

Somchai said the EC bill should be finalised after the interim charter was completely amended because it had to conform to the charter.

Both Wissanu and Somchai said the bill would set rules similar to those addressed in organic laws in 2009. Authorities also reiterated that campaigns for and against the charter draft were permissible, but not advocating for a boycott of the referendum.

Ong-art Klampaiboon, a deputy leader of Democrat Party, expressed support for the bill.

“There should be a referendum bill and it should say clearly that campaigns for or against the draft can be performed. Otherwise, some people might use this point against the CDC and it could also affect the referendum,” he said.