<div> <div>Amid calls for more political freedom ahead of next year’s election, a group of human rights defenders has urged the authorities to terminate the ban on public assembly.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 19 December, representatives from various civil society organisations submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court, calling for the termination of the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order 3/2015.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Article 6 of the order, military officers have the power to summon any individual and detain them for up to seven days withou </div></div>

<p>The junta’s lawmakers have given the green light to a controversial bill which gives more power and protection to the Constitutional Court. &nbsp;</p> <p>The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on 23 November 2017 voted 188 in favour, none against and 5 abstentions, to pass the third reading of the draft Organic Law on the Procedures of the Constitutional Court, which was drafted by the Constitution Drafting Committee and submitted to the NLA in September.</p>

<div> <div>The junta-appointed lawmakers have accepted in principle the Organic Act on the Constitutional Court which will protect the court from contempt and online criticism. Breaching the law can lead to up to one month in prison, a 50,000 baht fine, or both. </div></div>

<p>The junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has protected the Constitutional Court against contempt under the organic law.</p> <p>Udom Ratamarit, spokesperson of the CDC, revealed that the CDC has submitted the draft organic law on the procedures of the Constitutional Court to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), <u>Voice TV reports</u>.</p> <p>He said the NLA will consider the bill on 28 September 2017. &nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>The junta’s Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has confirmed that the new constitution will be ratified in April, when the CDC will also submit two organic bills — on political parties and the election commission — to the junta-appointed parliament.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 28 March 2017, Udom Ratammarit, a CDC representative, said that the draft constitution has already been submitted to the King for final endorsement. </div></div>

<div> <div>Citing the 7 August referendum results, Thailand’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the junta-backed draft charter must give the junta-appointed senate the right to activate the special mechanism to allow an ‘outsider’ Prime Minister. </div></div>

<p>Thailand’s Office of the Ombudsman has concluded that the Referendum Act might be unconstitutional as its ambiguity allows the authorities to clamp down on the draft charter critics.</p> <p>Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman, on Wednesday, 1 June 2016, announced that the Ombudsman’s Office will submit a request to the Constitutional Court to rule whether the 2016 Referendum Act is unconstitutional or not. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Former senators, human rights and election commissioners have pointed out that the laws regulating campaigns before the referendum to pass the junta-sponsored draft constitution ironically go against the junta’s Interim Charter.</p> <p>Jon Ungpakorn, a former senator and current director of iLaw, a human rights advocacy group, Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator, and Niran Pitakwatchara, former member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, submitted a letter to Raksagecha Chaechai, Secretary-General of the Office of the Ombudsman.</p>

<p>The Pheu Thai Party says that the Constitutional Court should not have the authority to rule on political deadlocks because it is ‘undemocratic’.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/4261">Matichon Online</a>, Phumtham Vejchayachai, Acting Secretary General of the Pheu Thai Party, on Sunday 17 January 2016, criticised the content of the new draft constitution on the authority of the Constitutional Court.</p>

<p>The junta-appointed drafters of the new constitution have concluded that under the new charter the controversial Constitutional Court will have jurisdiction in times of political crisis. &nbsp;</p> <p>At the mobile meeting in Cha Am District of Phetchaburi Province, the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) on Monday, 11 January 2016, announced that the new charter will move the language of Article 7 of the 2007 Constitution to the section on the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court instead.</p>