A referendum on the new constitution was held in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on 19 August 2007. Had the draft been rejected, the military government would have had the freedom to choose any previous constitution to adapt and promulgate instead. The turnout was around 60%.Thai voters 'approve new charter'
BBC News, 19 August 2007

Proposed changes

Major changes in the proposed constitution included the following:Thai draft constitution approved
BBC News, 6 July 2007 *Making almost half of Senators appointed rather than elected. *Limiting the Prime Minister to 2 four-year terms. *Banning the Prime Minister from major holdings in private companies. *Making it easier to impeach the Prime Minister and other ministers. The military government announced that each household in the country would be sent a copy of the new constitution ahead of the referendum. A poll from July had seen a majority of voters in favour. However, in many cases "yes" votes were not real indicators of support for the new text but rather for quick elections, as the ruling

Council for National Security The Council for National Security (; ; abbreviated CNS (), was the military junta that ruled Thailand between its 2006 Thai coup d'état, coup d'état against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on 19 September 2006 until the later coup d'état on ...

(CNS) has stated that approval of the new constitution was a requirement for holding parliamentary elections later that year.

Results

By region

By province

There were considerable differences in the approval rates between the regions of Thailand. In six provinces of

Southern Thailand Southern Thailand (formerly Southern Siam and Tambralinga) is the southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bo ...

( Chumphon, Trang,

Nakhon Si Thammarat Nakhon Si Thammarat (, ; from ) is a city municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') located in Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat, the capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. Nakhon Si Thammarat Province is situated in the South of Thailand. It is about s ...

Songkhla Songkhla (, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ, Singoro), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies ...

, Surat Thani, Ranong), the approval topped 90%. On the other hand, in 24 provinces in Northern and

Northeastern Thailand Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. Isan is T ...

there was a majority against the draft. In two provinces in the far Northeast ( Nakhon Phanom, Roi Et), the rejection even topped 75%.

References

Referendums in Thailand 2007 referendums Constitutional referendum Constitution of Thailand Constitutional referendums {{Asia-election-stub