Constitution Drafting Assembly chairman Noranit Sethabutr yesterday told the government to speed up legislation for the referendum and voiced concern about insufficient time to push for the passage of the new constitution.

"As the vote for the new constitution has been moved from September 2 back to August 19, there is still no law on how to organise the referendum," he said.

Noranit said the government should not wait until the last minute to forward the referendum bill for deliberation by the National Legislative Assembly.

"If the government cannot complete the referendum draft by early July, I don't think the vote on the charter will take place as has been planned," he said.

With regard to speculation about "ill-intentioned elements" trying to defeat the charter draft, he said it was too early to comment on the issue before the completion of the drafting process.

"At the moment, no one knows what the new constitution will look like, so I don't know how anyone would try to sway the public mood by citing an unknown," he said.

He said his comments about accelerating the process were also meant for the plan by the junta to convince voters to approve the charter.

Commenting on conflicting views between the 100 CDA members and the 35 charter writers, he said the airing of opinions was normal in the legislative process.

"I am more concerned about the fasting by some protesting monks to demand for the declaration of Buddhism as the state religion," he said.

The CDA will finalise its decision on the issue of state religion in due course and not succumb to undue pressure, he said.

 Election Commission chairman Apichart Sukhagganond said he was ready to organise the referendum pending the passage of the legislation governing it.

The referendum date can be moved forward one to two weeks without any problems because all preparations remain intact and the budget has already been earmarked, he said.