BANGKOK (IPS) - Thailand's rural voters stood up to the country's powerful military by refusing to march in step with the junta's drum-beat for political change at the first-ever referendum for a new constitution held here.
Voters from the country's north-east, home to the poorest section of the electorate, delivered an emphatic 'no' vote in the plebiscite held on Sunday to approve the country's 18th constitution. According to the final tallies confirmed on Monday, nearly 62 percent of those from the north-east who voted, or 4.6 million people, cast a ballot against the constitution drafted by a military-appointed committee.
This rejection echoed in other areas, too, such as the northern provinces, where 46 percent, or 2.29 million, of those who voted marked the negative box on the ballot paper. In all, some 10.2 million people, or 41.4 percent of the electorate that participated, came together as part of the 'no' bandwagon.
It is a number that takes the sheen off the pro-military political establishment claiming an emphatic victory at the referendum, where those who voted for the constitution accounted for 56.7 percent of the ballots cast, or an estimated 14.3 million voters. ... Full story
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