Official result of Thai referendum shows 61 percent support draft constitution

The Thai Election Commission (EC) has released the official result of Sunday's referendum which showed 61.35 percent of voters backed the draft constitution against 38.65 per cent who objected.

Its chairman Suphachai Somcharoen said a detailed breakdown of the result showed 16.82 million voters supported the draft constitution while 10.59 million opposed it.

"The voter turnout for the referendum was 59.40 per cent or 29.74 million from the total eligible voters of 50.071 million," he told the media, here, today.

On the extra questions posed during the referendum including on allowing the Senate to join the House of Representatives in selecting the prime minister, 58.07 per cent supported it, he said.

Suphachai said the top five provinces which backed the draft were Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phuket, Surat Thani and Ranong, all in southern Thailand.

Meanwhile, EC commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn who was also present at the meet-the-media session, said the referendum result had been handed over to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha today.

The referendum was part of the military-led Thai government's roadmap for the return to democracy, two years after seizing power from the civilian administration.

Yesterday, Gen Prayut in his reaction to the outcome of the referendum reiterated that the general election would be held next year as stipulated in the roadmap.