His query was directed at the National Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s legal standing committee, which is considering a draft bill on the public referendum on the proposed charter.

“I found that the bill concerning the planned referendum had no clauses giving authority to the CDC to explain the constitution to the people. If it is not us, then who would do it?” an apparently irritated Meechai said.

Under the draft bill, members of the Election Commission would have this responsibility. But Meechai questioned that body’s capability, saying EC members were not charter drafters. It must stay neutral and be mindful not to become too suggestive in terms of how people vote.

“The EC [responsible for holding the referendum] cannot say if this is a good or a bad charter. So, we drafters are perplexed by the NLA’s move,” Meechai said.

“If it was really [bad] it would affect the referendum and we might have to propose a new referendum bill.”

Meechai added that the CDC had already told the government about such irregularities.

Asked what if the NLA was not impressed with the CDC’s charter draft, the head drafter said that the legislators would have to write the charter themselves.

Taweesak Sukawatin, a member of the NLA committee, said his panel had already resolved not to revise the bill but authorised the CDC to explain the charter to voters.

He said the 2014 interim charter only gave the CDC authority to notify Cabinet and the NLA after the draft was completed and then it would be up to the EC to publicise the draft content.

“Considering the interim charter, we can see that it would become an issue of conflict if we had the CDC authorised to publicise the charter draft,” he explained.

In addition, the draft bill paved the way for others to join in the public discussion on the charter draft, including the CDC via the EC, he said.

As of yesterday, draft charters had almost completed the draft and today they will symbolically submit it to the Cabinet. Technically, the CDC has until Thursday to find and iron out any mistakes, technical or linguistic, anywhere in the draft.

The CDC and the NLA and the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) will meet tomorrow. The constitution writers will summarise and explain key points in the draft to their colleagues.

The NLA and the NRSA are not authorised to vote for or against the charter.

NLA vice president Surachai Liengboonlertchai said the NSRA had until this Friday to propose any additional question in the referendum on the charter. After that, on April 7, the NLA would discuss whether any new question was needed – and if so, what it would be.

He assured that the legislators take cues from nobody and any decision about an extra referendum question would be made independently.