EC specialist Thanit Sriprathet said the commission’s chairman Supachai Somcharoen will endorse the rules and regulations on how to vote in the referendum and present the proposal to the National Legislative Assembly for approval.

The EC has also sent a memo to the Cabinet and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha about certain unclear regulations in the interim charter, such as how many votes are required to determine whether the charter has been accepted.

The memo also said the interim charter did not contain any provisions for the punishment of those who commit wrongdoings during a public referendum.

Thanit said the EC has drafted an integrated plan for its central and provincial branches to implement under the strategy “65 million flowers flourishing” by classifying it in three stages.

The first stage starts from this month until the day the EC receives the draft charter from the Cabinet, during which time the EC will campaign to boost voters’ awareness so they can realise the significance of voting in the referendum.

The second stage starts from the day the EC receives the charter draft to the announcement of the referendum date, during which time the EC will find out if the public understands the content of the draft charter.

The third stage starts from the day the EC announces the date of the referendum to the actual voting date, during which time the EC will provide information to the public on the referendum, the procedures, the time when ballots can be cast as well as release reasons and opinions of opponents and supporters of the draft.

The polls would be open from 8am to 5pm.

CDC drafters also agreed to abolish advance voting for elections because it was seen as a loophole that made electoral fraud possible.

Voters, instead, will be encouraged to register for an absentee vote and vote at a polling station near their homes.

The development came as the CDC reviews the complete draft article by article.

For election days, CDC has empowered the Election Commission with scheduling and rescheduling by-election dates.

Election dates and election date resets would be determined by the EC to avoid unnecessary difficulties, CDC spokesman Udom Rathamarit said.

In the past, election dates were enforced through a royal decree, which made rescheduling difficult. The new stipulation would make it easier for EC to arrange elections, Udom said.

The CDC also resolved to bar people who have held positions at independent agencies or the Constitutional Court from contesting a Senate seat.

Previously, those people were eligible to run for the Senate if they had not been in a position at either of the two bodies for at least 10 years.

Udom said senators who served under previous constitutions would be given the benefit of the doubt and could still run for the Upper House.

But senators would not be eligible to run for the second term, he said.

The spokesman said the CDC also agreed that only the ordinary commission of the National Assembly could question people as part of fact-finding missions.

This was a proposed change to the previous constitution, which empowered committees or subcommittees to do this.

Udom said the drafters wanted to limit the incidents of malpractice in the fact-finding process.

The drafters had previously decided the state financial discipline law would be organic but it would now come in the form of a normal bill and would issued under executive power by the next government post election.

The drafters finished deliberating on at least 160 articles yesterday.

Udom said they would probably start writing the transitory-provision chapters next Wednesday.

He said the skeleton for this process had already been laid down by the CDC subcommittee responsible for writing the constitution.

In chapter 13 on charter amendment, the CDC decided to ban a structural change in a state on the provision, which stipulates that Thailand is one and an indivisible Kingdom.

The CDC had earlier banned a change to the provision that stipulated that Thailand adopt a democratic regime of government with the King as Head of the State.

The 2007 charter also had the same ban on the amendment of the two provisions on the country being a single state and on the country’s ruling system.

At the CDC meeting in Petchaburi, Education Minister General Dapong Ratanasuwan told the meeting about the issues in the country’s educational system, saying educational agencies lack integration systems under the management of the ministry that distributes power to departments and divisions. He said the problem stems from the fact that ministry executives could not ensure management efficiency, resulting in low quality education.

He said he adopted solutions to solve the problem by setting up regional agencies to coordinate work between the central and local agencies.

He said he would forward his proposal to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to follow Article 44 in establishing regional agencies.

CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan also suggested that Dapong give the commission his opinion about Article 53 on education and other concerns he has on education problems before the middle of February.

CDC spokesman Amorn Wanichwiwatana said the commission would not publicly disclose details of the charter draft until the draft is final.

He said the CDC laid down independence as a major principle in local administrative organisation. “This does not mean local government has independence in governance. They must rule by taking into account local people’s intentions and desires,” he said.

Local people would be given power to consider structures of local administrative organisations.