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A 23-page document that was allegedly submitted by suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to the Constitutional Court was leaked today which stated some of the rebuttals made by the 2014 coup leader against the allegations of him having completed his 8-year term as Prime Minister.
The documents, the 2nd leak from the top court in Thailand in as many days, came as the Constitutional Court continues to deliberate on the petition filed by the opposition parties against what they see as the breach of the 2017 constitution that states that nobody can remain a Prime Minister for more than 8-years.
“Even though I first assumed the prime minister position on August 24, 2014, and I have continued to be in the position since then until now, the plaintiff cannot use that first period of my premiership under Article 14 dash 1 of the interim charter, which was already nullified when the 2017 constitution came into effect, to be counted in with the premiership period under the current charter,” the unauthenticated document stated.
This argument was similar to an argument in another unauthenticated document that was believed to be a statement of Meechai Ruchuphan, who was the chairman of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) that drafted the 2017 constitution.
Meechai allegedly argued that Gen. Prayut’s terms during the previous interim charter and the current charter were separated and cannot be counted together to put it to 8-years.
Meechai, who has been the constitution drafter for many of the coup lead governments that tore apart the previous constitution, said that the term of Gen. Prayut as Prime Minister should be counted from 2017, which means that he could remain in premiership all the way until 2025.
The dual leak in the past 2 days prompted the Constitutional Court to come out to say that it was “sorry” for the 1st leak of Meechai’s statement and that it would investigate the leaks. The 2nd leak occurred just when the Constitutional Court was going to apologize for the 1st leak.
Chaowana Traimas, the secretary-general of the Constitutional Court’s Office, said that the president of the court, Worawit Kangsasitiam, was “sorry” to see “the leak”.
The secretary-general of the court said the president of the court has ordered an investigation into the leak but when asked if the document was real, Chaowana said he cannot verify whether it was really Meechai’s statement or not until the investigation was concluded.
Chaowana did not explain about the unauthenticated document that was believed to be Gen. Prayut’s statement because the document was released to the media while the secretary-general was having a press meeting on the possible leak of Meechai’s statement.
Gauging Public Response
Rangsiman Rome, a spokesman of the opposition Move Forward Party, said that Meechai’s statement was intentionally leaked to see the public responses to it and to reassure Prayut’s supporters that he will be back as premier at least until the next general election.
The Constitutional Court suspended Prayut’s PM duty since August 24, pending their verdict on his premiership term limit.
The court will meet tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss whether they need more time to reach the verdict. If the court decided they have already seen enough evidence and listened to enough opinions from experts, the court will then set another date for the verdict, Chaowana said.
He said he does not see a ruling coming from the 9-bench judges on this matter tomorrow.
So far, the court requested opinions from Meechai and Pakorn Nilprapunt, the former secretary of the CDC, and opposition parties have also submitted their side of the argument.
Experts believe that if the court decided that they have sufficient information to make the verdict, the date for the verdict will be set 1-2 weeks after they meet tomorrow.
