THE country’s five core agencies will meet tomorrow in a bid to ensure the charter draft passes the upcoming public referendum.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who serves as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order, which called the meeting, is expected to discuss proposals suggested by different groups to revise the charter draft.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan made the news when he gave personal suggestions on the draft such as having senators chosen from a list and not elected, with them serving a five-year term through the transitional post-election period.

An NCPO source said that given Prayut had reiterated many times that he wanted the charter draft to pass the referendum, all revisions to be made to it must be suitable for the country and meet international democratic standards to ensure public acceptance of it.

The source said the NCPO also wanted to ensure that security officials maintain peace and order during the “transition period” from now until the referendum in July.

The source said the junta wanted to tighten its grip on political elements to prevent them from expressing opinions that distort or cause public confusion or convince the public to vote down the charter draft.

Security officials would monitor the movement of political groups on social media and keep a close watch on the activities of political leaders in their strongholds, the source said.

After the referendum is held, the government and the NCPO expected they would face attempts to discredit them by political groups and figures living abroad. The government has also not ruled out political turmoil being instigated by political groups.

The NCPO has been monitoring the moves of people who committed offences and fled to neighbouring countries when the NCPO assumed power.

At tomorrow’s meeting the PM is expected to discuss the 20-year national strategies in terms of how to dispel the widely held perception that the junta wants to cling to power.

Only top leaders of the five core agencies will attend the meeting.

Dubbed as “Five Rivers”, the agencies are the NCPO, the Constitution Drafting Commission, the National Reform Steering Assembly, the Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly. It is unlikely Prayut will hold a press conference to announce the meeting results as he does not want the public to think he is interfering in the reform and charter drafting processes.