BANGKOK: Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed a new constitution at a glittering palace ceremony on Thursday, an essential step towards holding an election that the military government has promised to restore democracy after a 2014 coup.
The constitution is Thailand’s 20th since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932 and critics say it will still give the generals a powerful say over Thai politics for years, if not decades.
The latest changes, made public for the first time when the constitution was published in the Royal Gazette to become law, also underlined the king’s power in the event of a crisis, analysts said.
“May the Thai people be united in following and protecting the constitution to maintain democracy and their sovereignty,” an officer with the Royal Scribes Bureau said at the ceremony, on behalf of the king.
The long-awaited constitution replaces an interim document put in place after the 2014 coup.
Thais approved the outline of the new constitution in a referendum last August but the palace requested changes in January after King Vajiralongkorn took over from his revered late father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had ruled for more than seven decades.
One change allows the king to travel abroad without appointing a regent. The king has spent much of the past few years in Germany, where he has a son in school.
Another change was the removal of a clause giving power to the constitutional court and other institutions in the event of an unforeseen crisis. — Reuters
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