Clause two bans dissemination of false, vulgar and inciting messages through the media.

Some 67 per cent of those surveyed believed the referendum should not be deferred, 20 per cent said it should be postponed and 12 per cent said they were not certain.

Some 46 per cent said the charter draft should be altered to reduce conflicts among political groups, 38 per cent said it should not be altered and 15 per cent said they were not sure.

Another 63 per cent said they supported Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to continue in the job if the charter draft did not pass the referendum, 21 per cent said they did not support him and 15 per cent said they were not sure.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission yesterday held its second public hearing on “The charter draft, public referendum and the people” in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, National Economics Social and Development Board secretary-general Porametee Vimolsiri, Constitution Drafting Commission representative Prapan Naikowit, National Legislative Assembly representatives Klanarong Chantik and Somchai Sawaengkan, and Election Commission representative Somchai Srisuthiyakorn.

About 600 people attended the meeting that included provincial governors from 14 southern provinces, provincial police chiefs, provincial election commissioners and politicians, mostly from the Democrat Party.

Klanarong said that the NLA invented the additional referendum question about allowing senators to select the PM during the five-year transitional period following the next election because it wanted national reform and national strategies to be accomplished.

Somchai, from the EC, said if the government wanted to postpone the referendum, the interim charter must be amended. If the referendum were not postponed, the EC would campaign to make voters exercise their voting rights, he said.

“The high turnout of voters means the legitimacy of the referendum,” he said.

He insisted that people have the liberty to express their opinions about the charter draft, just not in a false or vulgar way or in a manner that might incite disturbances.

Wissanu said the charter was the solution to address problems facing the country that happened before the coup on May 22, 2014.

He said since General Surayud Chulanont’s administration till May 22 last year, the country was not at peace – a period covering four governments in eight years. The Prayut government has pushed for 120 laws to try to curb national conflicts and division, he said.

“We must reform both people and rules. We changed the rules by preventing bad people from rising to power,” he said. “The charter draft is the solution but we will get to use this solution or not depend on the referendum results.”

The EC’s Somchai declared the hearing a success and said it would be used as a model for next hearings in Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima.

Somchai said he felt it was necessary to maintain clause two of Article 61 because he felt that the Computer Act, the Criminal Law and the National Council for Peace and Order were not enough to handle the situation if some groups violated the clause.

He said the EC would testify in court that clause two did not violate people’s rights and freedom.

“People enjoy rights and liberty but within a boundary and if there is not a boundary, there could be political turmoil two months before the referendum is held,” he said.

The EC will allow the Resistant Citizens group to hold a mini concert with songs that have lyrics about rejecting the charter draft outside the EC on Wednesday.

Somchai said if the songs carried messages to try and influence voters to vote either way in the referendum, the EC would take legal action against the group.

Democrat Party deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat said the charter draft was biased against politicians and he felt the atmosphere in the run-up to the referendum was not democratic because people who rejected the charter were not given as much chance to express their views as people who accepted it.

A key figure in the now-defunct People’s Democratic Reform Committee, Withaya Kaewparadai, said he wished the Prayut government reforms the country before the general election is held because he had no hope that an elected government would succeed in doing so.

Wissanu said reforming the country before the election was easier said than done because drastic changes would bring about conflicts. “We believe that an elected government would be articulate in accomplishing national reform and managing the conflicts,” he said.

Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd hit back at the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship over its attack on the government after the government vented its displeasure over the UDD setting up centres to monitor the referendum for fraud.

Sansern said the UDD was wrong to jump to the conclusion that if the government did not allow it to set up such a centre, it meant the government intended to allow referendum fraud.

He was responding to Election Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn’s earlier post on Facebookrecommending the people who appeared in the video report to police if they had not intended to spread an anti-charter message.

However the person who originally posted the video online will not be charged because it was uploaded before the referendum law took effect, the election commissioner wrote.

The controversial video features a song with lyrics criticising the draft constitution and is performed by high-profile political activists such as Sirawith Seritiwat, aka “Ja New”, Sombat Boonngamanong, or “Nuling”, and human rights lawyer Anon Nampa.

Pansak said that EC had always found fault in everything the group did. He said he had been charged with sedition when he was walking alone, adding that the EC must prove it was enforcing the law fairly.

In a related development, the Bangkok Military Court ruled that it had the authority to try some member of the group in a separate matter after their lawyer contended the case should have been under the Criminal Court’s jurisdiction.

The members have been charged with violating the National Council for Peace and Order’s order banning political gathering of more than four people, after they held a symbolic activity, “Dear the (Stolen) Election”, to commemorate the unsuccessful national election on February 2, 2014.

Their lawyer yesterday requested that the case be submit to Constitutional Court to rule on whether it is constitutional to try civilians in the Military Court.

The case has been put on hold as the Military Court prosecutor decides whether to fulfil the request.

Resistant Citizen vowed to stage an act of civil disobedience if the case were not submitted to the Constitutional Court.

“This matter is crucial because it will affect the legitimacy and sustainability of the draft charter,” he said.

Parinya added that when the 2007 Constitution was put up for a public referendum, the government had told the public that if this draft did not pass the referendum, it would put to use one of the previous charters.

“At that time, people wanted the then-government to immediately declare which charter it was going to adopt. It was not like this referendum, when the public has not been told that a new charter will be written if this draft is rejected,” Parinya said.

He made these comments at a seminar yesterday entitled, “Look at International Referendums and the Thai Referendum”, held to mark the 18th anniversary of the Election Commission (EC).

He also said that the process of the referendum must be just. “Before the vote is called, people should have the liberty to speak. The correct way is to give both opponents and supporters equal right to speak about the draft,” he said.

Siripan Noksuan Sawaddee, lecturer from Chulalongkorn University’s Political Science Faculty, called on the EC to be politically neutral because critics have been attacking it of promoting the “yes” vote, citing some lyrics of the song campaigning for the referendum that was produced by the EC.

“According to international practice, agencies like the EC are not allowed to take part in campaigning for voters to cast their ballot either way,” she said.

Sirpan added that should this draft pass the referendum, the country would have two charters in effect because the 2014 interim charter stipulates that the government and the National Council for Peace and Order will stay in office until a new Cabinet is appointed.

“The new charter will only go into effect at the end of next year, not immediately after the referendum,” she said.