BBC Online :Thai referendum voters appear to have backed a draft constitution written by an army-appointed committee.Thailand’s election commission says that with 91% of the votes counted, 61% have voted in favour.The military threw out the old constitution when it took power in 2014, after months of political instability and sporadic violence. Supporters of the new document say it will restore stability, but critics say it will entrench military control.Voters also appear to have supported a second measure on the ballot, which proposes that the appointed senate should be involved in selecting a prime minister. The election commission says 58% of the votes counted so far are in favour of this.The final result is expected in the next few hours. Campaigning against the draft had been banned and dozens of people have been detained. Thailand’s biggest political parties rejected the constitution.After casting his ballot at a polling station in Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said: “Come out [to vote] because today is important for the future of the country. “This is your duty and this is part of democracy, of an internationally-recognised process.” About 200,000 police officers were deployed to maintain order and there were no reports of protests. The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok said few people had to queue for long and voting proceeded smoothly. Independent observer groups had requested accreditation to monitor the vote, but this was not granted by the Election Commission. The way this referendum has been run by the military authorities has been widely condemned by human rights groups because of the ban on campaigning, which has seen dozens of people detained and charged. As a result, public knowledge of the draft constitution is limited; many Thais say they have little idea what is in it. If it is approved, the military government has promised that a general election could be held by late next year, restoring democratic government.But critics have argued that the draft will create a crippled democracy, with the armed forces and an appointed senate retaining decisive influence over future elected governments.Election officials warned that anyone playing the augmented reality game Pokemon Go, launched in Thailand on Saturday, near polling stations could face charges.”In occasions that rare Pokemons emerge in any polling station, please stop playing it,” said election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn. The 50 million eligible voters were asked to answer yes or no to the question: Do you accept the draft constitution? They were also asked a supplementary question, whether or not the appointed senate should be allowed to join the lower house in selecting a prime minister.If a majority of voters says yes, the draft becomes the constitution, enhancing the military government’s legitimacy in the run-up to an election which Mr Prayuth, who led the 2014 coup, has promised will happen next year. If the constitution does not pass, what will happen is uncertain, but the military government will remain in control.The military argues that corrupt politicians are to blame for the last decade of instability and divisive politics.Made public in March, the draft proposes a voting system which would make it difficult for a single political party to win a majority of seats in the lower house.One of the most controversial clauses calls for the 250-seat senate to be fully appointed by the military government. Before the coup, just over half of the upper house seats were directly elected and the rest were appointed.The change means military-appointed lawmakers would have a decisive say in the likely event that no party holds a majority in the lower house, or National Assembly of Thailand. Thailand has had more than a decade of fractured politics and instability that has sometimes spilled over into violence.In this time, parties linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have won every election, but their governments have all been ousted either by court rulings or military coups.Mr Thaksin fled into self-imposed exile in 2008 to escape a criminal charge of abusing his power, for which he was later convicted in absentia.
