PPP wins crucial backing

After initial delays and ambiguous stances, the Chart Thai and Puea Pandin parties have agreed to go along with attempts by coalition leader People Power Party to rewrite the 2007 Constitution.

Chart Thai leader Banharn Silapa-archa said yesterday his party would join in the amendment of the Constitution despite fears of a political backlash.

Puea Pandin spokesman Chaiyos Chiramethakorn also said his party supported a wholesale rewrite of the Constitution.

Support from both coalition partners is crucial to the People Power-led government's plan to amend the 2007 Constitution.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej had ordered him to arrange a meeting with the leaders of the coalition partners next week.

Rewriting the Constitution threatens to push the country back into political turmoil because opponents believe the move is aimed at helping the People Power Party, the Chart Thai Party and the Matchima Thipataya Party to avoid being dissolved in high-drama court cases.

The amendment also seeks to offer political amnesty to 111 former executives of the defunct Thai Rak Thai, who were banned from politics for five years for alleged election fraud.

Most importantly, however, a rewrite of Article 309 of the Constitution - if it were to take place - would nullify the agencies that are responsible for handling investigations into charges of corruption against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Amending the Constitution might trigger more political turmoil because anti-Thaksin groups are determined to oppose it, while the pro-Thaksin camp will kick in to support Thaksin's return.

Yesterday's statement was a sudden change of heart for Puea Pandin, which had earlier expressed its disagreement with plans to amend the Constitution. Party leader Suwit Khunkitti pointed out that the government should give priority to tackling the country's economic problems instead of amending the Constitution. Puea Pandin's advisory chairman Watana Asvahame would also like the cases against Thaksin to proceed in accordance with legal processes first.

Banharn said yesterday his party was willing to participate in the amendment of the Constitution, but it would need to work out the details.

He would not go so far as to assert that Chart Thai would like to rewrite the whole constitution, or whether it sought to amend only some articles. "I don't know yet," he said. "But we should not scrap Article 237 altogether. We only have to specify that any wrongdoing by a party executive should be limited to that individual alone, instead of throwing the net out to catch all the party executives."

As for the sensitive Article 309, written to provide further legal protection for the agencies created under the Surayud government to pursue corruption cases against Thaksin, Banharn said he needed to consult with members of his party because he had not yet read the details.