The Election Commission is expediting the printing of the charter draft summaries and summaries for the document’s additional question to be ready for distribution on May 25.

Suphachai Somcharoen, the EC chairman, said the EC would receive the first batch of the summaries from the contracted printing houses by May 23 before distributing some of them during the official kick-off event to mark the charter distribution to concerned agencies and voters.

He said the EC was supervising public participation countrywide and would instruct its promotion centres at all tambons to help distribute the summaries and disseminate information concerning the charter draft as much as possible.

Supachai assured that the upcoming referendum would run smoothly and encounter no problems as feared.

He urged the public to adhere to the law while the EC would do its best to keep order.

Supachai insists that the EC had been working in line with the new referendum law, especially in regard to Article 7 of the law, which ensured people’s freedom of expressions, and Article 61, which set penalties for violations of the law.

“The EC has not done anything other than what the law has addressed,” Supachai said, in implied reference to the EC’s recent issuance of new announcements that strictly prohibit eight activities during the referendum process deemed violation of the law, especially any provocation or incitement.

“People can surely pursue activities with a good intention and no violation of the law,” he said.

Supachai said he was not worried about anything ahead of the referendum, as the EC had been following and adhering to the law. As an agency, which has to maintain neutrality, the EC is careful when it takes steps, especially in times when people agree and disagree with the charter draft, he added.

The National Reform Steering Assembly, meanwhile, is set to have the first meeting of its representatives and representatives from the National Legislative Assembly who will help the Constitution Drafting Commission and the NLA explain the charter draft and the additional question to people.

Alongkorn Ponlaboot, NRSA vice chairman, said the meeting would be held on Friday to discuss primarily the explanation about the additional question proposed by the NLA.

Last week, the three assemblies met and decided to have at least 167 members from the NRSA and the NLA explain the charter.

CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan had said the 167 members would act as volunteers to help the CDC explain the charter’s difficult legal terms “in layman’s language”.

Meechai believed they would help the CDC’s work considerably as they were familiar with the areas of their responsibilities and had good knowledge about the constitution. Voters will get sufficient information before making their decision, he said.

The NRSA has submitted an initial list of 42 NRSA members who will serve as volunteers, and will recruit more before they receive a major training course on May 18-19. They will then be dispatched around the country.

“We will stick to the EC’s regulation not to speak about anything beyond what’s needed. That there will be no leading explanations from us as we respect people’s opinions and decisions,” said Alongkorn.

Seri Suwanpanon, NRSA political reform committee chairman, suggested the government take a soft approach when dealing with people during the upcoming referendum, citing a group of academics who petitioned the UN over wanting an assurance of freedom of expressions ahead of the referendum vote.

He said at this point it could not be predicted whether the referendum would be affected by political activities, but it was better not to fuel confrontations with harsh measures.

His committee, he said, was working on the details of the EC’s regulations as some of them were still interpreted differently, and he feared that different regional dialogues could further confuse the situation and cause problems unnecessary.

He called on the EC to take that point into consideration when its regulations were applied in different regions.