Whip says govt open to charter amendments

If the Constitutional Court rules that the charter amendment process is unconstitutional, the government will instead go ahead with changes to the charter section by section, chief government whip Wirach Ratanasate said on Saturday.

On Tuesday, parliament agreed that the court should rule on the legality of proposed amendments aimed at setting up a charter drafting body. A joint session of MPs and senators approved the motion by 366 votes to 316 with 15 abstentions.

He denied the government wanted to delay the charter amendment process.

“I insist that the government did not give any instructions [to delay the process]. It is a matter of when the amendment process will be complete,” Mr Wirach, also an MP of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), said.

The goal of a petition seeking the ruling is to ensure the charter amendment proposals will receive enough…