House to reaffirm majority vote policy on Wednesday

The House is set to convene on Wednesday to reaffirm its decision that a charter amendment referendum will be decided by a majority vote.
Nikorn Chamnong, secretary of the ad hoc House panel on the referendum bill, said MPs will definitely stand by their stance that a simple majority vote is sufficient to pass charter amendments.
The meeting follows the Senate’s decision earlier this week to retain two conditions for a charter referendum to be adopted: A minimum voter turnout and majority support. This means that over 50% of voters must participate in the referendum, and the majority of those who take part must support it.
Mr Nikorn said the House will also nominate 10 people on Wednesday to sit on a joint House-Senate committee, while the Senate is expected to appoint 10 people to the committee on Oct 15.
The committee will meet from Oct 16–23 to review the bill and decide on the size of the majority needed to pass a referendum for the rewrite of the 2017 constitution.
If an agreement is reached by Oct 28 and both chambers endorse it by Oct 30, the bill will be forwarded to the prime minister for submission for royal approval.
Mr Nikorn said if things proceed in accordance with this timeline, the first round of the charter amendment referendum is likely to proceed as scheduled on Feb 2 next year when elections of provincial administrative organisations are held nationwide.
The Senate’s decision to retain the two conditions is expected to delay the timeline for a referendum on the charter rewrite.
Mr Nikorn said that he hopes the Senate and the House can reach an agreement on the matter to ensure that the charter amendment process moves forward smoothly in its subsequent steps.
This is because the charter amendment proposal requires one-third of support, or 72 votes, from the Upper House, he said, adding that a consensus on the referendum bill will help prevent delays or complications.
When asked about Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul’s comments this week that there were more pressing issues than rejigging the charter, Mr Nikorn said while it is not pressing, there is also no reason to delay it.
Mr Nikorn said the Chartthaipattana Party supports a charter rewrite, which is a coalition policy, and the establishment of a charter drafting assembly to draft a new charter to make it more inclusive and widely accepted.