Opposition parties and the Democrat Party, a key coalition partner of the government, on Constitution Day on Saturday renewed their calls for a rewrite of the charter to ensure "full restoration" of democracy.
Pheu Thai Party said the constitution was a biased product of the May 22, 2014 military coup, engineered mainly to serve the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
Despite past efforts to amend the charter, only one section regarding the election system has been amended, Pheu Thai said.
So, the party was calling on all MPs and senators to urgently amend Section 272 to clarify that the selection of a new prime minister must be conducted in the House of Representatives.
In a similar vein, Democrat Party spokesman Rames Ratanachaweng said the constitution isn't totally democratic and needs to be corrected.
Section 256 of the charter is the most seriously flawed and must be amended to cut the number of senators able to vote on constitutional amendments, to leave the House of Representatives with the majority voice, he said.
The requirement that approval be obtained from at least one-third of senators, or about 84 senators, on such bills in their first and third readings is a severe hindrance, he said.
Pokin Polakul, strategic committee chief of the Thai Sang Thai Party (TSTP), said a new constitution drafting assembly would truly represent the will of the people.
The party had submitted the bill to the House speaker which would allow a charter drafting assembly to be formed, and is gathering at least 50,000 signatures to submit to the House in support of the move, he said.
TSTP leader Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan added that in her opinion this constitution is the nation's worst in two decades.
