"This is the very basic problem that occurs every time after a coup," said Chaturon, during a talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) on Wednesday evening.

Chaturon hoped justice would prevail in the electoral fraud case the former ruling party is fighting, but he said comments by junta leaders that the trial would end with Thai Rak Thai being dissolved were not encouraging.

He also noted that: "Twenty million people who are members of political parties are not allowed to join in the process of constitution drafting."

The former deputy premier warned constitution drafters not to undermine political parties in the new charter because one could not develop democracy and weaken political parties at the same time.

He said the future prime minister should still come from the ranks of elected MPs and that the Senate must also be elected.

Chaturon also claimed there was confusion among some local people that they could not vote against the charter in the referendum.

"Some people have been misled into believing they cannot vote against the constitution and this misunderstanding is still not yet clarified by the related agencies.

"We also don't know which old constitution they are going to pick and we don't know if they're going to announce it to the public beforehand," Chaturon said.

He was referring to the junta's rule that if the new charter is rejected in the referendum, the Council for National Security (CNS) has the authority to use any previous charter instead.

He pointed to a survey that revealed some 64 per cent of Thai people still do not know what a constitution is for.

Chaturon said the TRT party was still strong, with 14 million members, more than five months since the coup was staged to remove Thaksin Shinawatra and the party from power.

He insists he's no longer taking orders from Thaksin, who is in exile.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation