Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday that the clock started ticking on Friday and a special panel in the Council of State responsible for the revision must complete the job within a 30-day timeframe dictated by the amended post-coup Interim Charter.

Wissanu is part of the 11-member special panel that also includes top legal experts – chairmen of the previous and current constitution drafting bodies Borwornsak Uwanno and Meechai Ruchupan, plus heads of the National Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court. They are also members from the Council of State.

The panel will convene as soon as all 11 members are ready, according to Wissanu, who noted that some were currently abroad.

The draft charter, already approved by most voters in the referendum last August, is subject to alteration should the King make an observation about it, according to the Interim Charter’s latest amendment.

Earlier this month, the Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary passed an observation that the charter draft needed revision in certain clauses concerning royal prerogative involving designation of a regent.

Authorities said the draft constitution would be amended accordingly to allow the King to also not designate a regent when he does not reside in the Kingdom or when is unable to perform his royal duties.

Another suggested revision would take away the power of the Privy Council president to name a regent or become one himself as allowed by previous constitutions, the authorities have said. Several clauses linked to the observation passed from the Office of His Majesty’s Principal Private Secretary would need to be adjusted too, they said.

Within 30 days or by February 19, the revision of the draft charter should be completed and forwarded to the prime minister, Wissanu said yesterday.

The prime minister would have another 30 days to review the amendment before submitting it to the King for royal endorsement. If no royal endorsement was granted within 90 days, the revised draft would lapse, according to the Interim Charter.

Meanwhile, the timetable for the 10 organic laws necessary for the next election, which must be finished in eight months, |can only start after the new constitution is promulgated.