Democrat alleges present administration is rushing charter rewrite

"I detect a suspicious signal from the People Power Party that the government may push for a charter rewrite in order to survive its legal wrangles," Democrat assistant secretary-general Thepthai Senpong said.

A rewrite before the completion of the charter review would add to the long list of political woes facing the government, Thepthai said.

He said he found it odd that the government was trying to blame its troubles on the Constitution, when every problem could be traced back to the government itself.

He called on the prime minister to face up to the problems instead of playing a blame game. Samak Sundaravej should explain the true political situation to the public by answering reporters' questions rather than making one-sided speeches via his weekly television show - "Talking Samak Style" - he said.

Thepthai predicted the government would call a snap election around September or shortly thereafter, following the passage of the Budget Bill and the annual military and bureaucratic reshuffle.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob played down Thepthai's concern about the rush to amend the charter.

Although every MP is entitled to sponsor draft legislation, including charter amendments, each draft will come up for debate on the House floor in good time as determined by several factors, he said.

Chai said he had no opinion on the timing for the charter rewrite since he was required to be politically neutral.

He said critics might have gone overboard in portraying the political situation as a crisis. "All I saw was Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama tendering his resignation. The government and the Parliament remain fully functioning."

He said Samak's horoscope indicated a strong prime minister, and he was confident the PM could steer the country out of trouble.