Thai opposition pressures government to ditch military constitution

People's Party to use censure debate to raise issue of reform

20250321 Constitutional Court of Thailand

Thailand's conservative Constitutional Court has wide powers to delay efforts to reform the country's constitution, which dates back to 2017 and the last military government. © Getty Images

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR

March 24, 2025 09:36 JST

BANGKOK -- Thailand's opposition People's Party is eyeing this week's annual censure debate in parliament to grill the governing coalition over its waning appetite to reform the 2017 constitution, a legacy of the last military junta to perpetuate an ultra-conservative grip on power.

Opposition lawmakers will have Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose Pheu Thai Party heads the coalition, in their crosshairs as they debate a no-confidence motion on Monday and Tuesday. They have singled out language in Pheu Thai's policy document that the 38-year-old prime minister revealed after beginning her term last August. The passage was meant to accelerate the constitutional change process.