Politicians and the Election Commission (EC) have criticised as “leading” and “too difficult to understand” the question approved by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to be added to the referendum question on the draft charter.

The referendum is scheduled for August 7

He said the NLA would explain the meaning of the question to the public.

Wissanu’s remark came after a meeting with representatives from the EC, the Constitution Drafting Commission, the NLA, and Bureau of the Budget to discuss the organising of the referendum.

Wissanu said people could express their opinions about the draft and convince others to think the same as long as they did not distort information.

“The EC has to clarify ‘grey zones’ to make it clear to the people, and what people can or cannot do. The court would judge whether a case is illegal,” said Wissanu.

Regarding the charter draft, he said, the CDC was responsible for explaining key points to the public.

The budget for holding the referendum will be discussed at the Cabinet meeting on April 12, he said. The cost was estimated at Bt2.99 billion.

Meanwhile, NLA member General Somjet Boonthanom said that the content of the referendum bill was already clear. It does not obstruct public expression of opinion about the draft, Somjet said, as long as they do not try to coerce other people.

Somjet was responding to Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva’s criticism on Sunday about the bill draft being written ambiguously on what is prohibited during the referendum process.