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BANGKOK - Voters in Thailand appear to have approved a new constitution for the country - in a vote widely billed as a referendum on last year's coup that ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
Exit polls yesterday suggested around 70 per cent of voters had approved the new charter that also reduces the role of politicians and could help the military retain a behind-the-scenes influence for years to come. The country's electoral officials estimated that 60 per cent of eligible voters participated.
Yesterday, Thailand's Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, the civilian face of the military-backed Government, said the high turnout and approval were "the first step in moving forward to full democracy".
Speaking on Thai television, he said the charter would likely become officially passed by the country's King.
Those behind the charter argue that it opens a way forward for the country after last year's military coup, which saw Thaksin forced into exile amid allegations of corruption and widescale popular demonstrations against his elected Government.
But analysts also say the charter emphasises checks and balances at the expense of participatory democracy and that its passing will likely trigger anger from the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin's supporters, of whom there are many in Thailand.
"This draft, if passed, would give priority to the interest of the military and bureaucracy," Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Chulalongkorn University political scientist, told the Associated Press.
"The appointed half of the Senate is going to be packed with bureaucrats and military representatives.
"It is definitely going to go back to the era where the aristocrats and the elite have more power, the way it was before Thaksin's rise and fall."
The new charter would serve as a replacement for a 1997 version that was known as "the people's constitution" as a result of the extensive public consultation and debate leading to its adoption.
That version attempted to bring democratic reforms to a system that left political parties beholden to local power brokers.
If - as seems certain - the new version is adopted, it will again turn the Senate into a partly appointed body rather than 100 per cent elected.
It would also weaken the power of political parties and transfer certain responsibilities normally performed by the Executive to the judiciary.
Since the ousting of Thaksin, the country has been ruled by an interim constitution that keeps the military in control behind the veneer of temporary civilian rule.
Critics said the referendum itself was the incorrect solution because if it had been rejected, the military's senior officers would have been free to impose a constitution without any further public consultation.
On Friday, Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the man who led the bloodless coup, said if the charter was rejected it would take him "a couple of days" to pick his favourite constitution and make amendments to it.
Though he still has support, Thaksin, who has lived in London since leaving Thailand last year, faces considerable difficulties. Last week, a court issued a warrant for his arrest relating to an alleged land deal he and his wife were said to have been involved in.
- Independent
