“Even if the charter is passed, it will have no legitimacy, because there was no freedom to let people discuss the draft. This charter will create another political conflict,” said Prapart Pintobtang, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University.

The “Referendum Monitoring” event at Sriburapa Hall was packed with people eagerly following the vote counting, even though many of them still expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the referendum.

Prapart said it looked like the “Yes” vote would win, but the new constitution will lack credibility and would lead to the next political chaos.

“If the constitution were to be approved, we will have to live under the NCPO [National Council for Peace and Order] regime for at least eight more years and the government that will be formed after the election will be similar to the General Prem Tinnasulanonda era.”

The country will be administered by the junta for eight years at least because other political players will not likely rule the country under the political structure defined by the new constitution, he said.

Charnwit Kasetsiri, a former Thammasat rector, said that no matter what the outcome, the activism inspired by the referendum showed that the young generation was now politically conscious.

“As we saw, the opposition to the constitution was heavily suppressed by the state, but this referendum showed that the new generation has already woken up.

“And democracy is now the major trend of the world and Thailand cannot avoid this trend,” he said.

“Thailand is undergoing a transition. We are going to see what we don’t expect to see, and what we’ve seen for a very long time will not stay any longer in the near future.”