Volume 123, Issue 102A
Royal Gazette
1 October 2549
Section17.All legal provisions, royal rescripts, and royal commands of any kind, which relate to the public services of the State, must be countersigned by the Prime Minister or a Minister, save where this Constitution provides otherwise.
Section18.Judges and justices are independent in trying and adjudicating upon cases in the name of the Monarch, in a just manner, and in accordance with the law and this Constitution.
Section19.There shall be a Constitution Drafting Assembly to prepare a draft constitution, composed of Members numbering one hundred, who are appointed by [the Monarch] in accordance with the procedure provided in this Constitution.
The Monarch appoints [from amongst] the Members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly one as President of the Constitution Drafting Assembly and not more than two as Vice Presidents of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, according to a resolution of the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
The Members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly must not be or have once been members of a political party, or have held any position in a political party during the period of two years before the day of being selected as Members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, and must not at the same time be Members of the National Legislative Assembly.
The Members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, the members of the committees of the Assembly, the persons who print or publish meeting proceedings upon order of the Constitution Drafting Assembly or a committee, the persons who are permitted by the president of a meeting to state facts or express opinions at the meeting of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, and the persons who broadcast meetings of the Constitution Drafting Assembly through broadcasting radio or broadcasting television upon permission of the President of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, shall, in the same manner as the Members of the National Legislative Assembly, enjoy the privilege and immunity as provided in section 13.
Section 9, paragraph 1, shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the quorum of the Constitution Drafting Assembly; and the regulations of the National Legislative Assembly, to the meetings of the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
Section20.There shall be a National People's Assembly[1] composed of Members numbering not more than two thousand, who are appointed by [the Monarch] from amongst the persons of the Thai nationality by birth and of the age not lower than eighteen years.
The President of the Council for National Security shall countersign the appointment of the Members of the National People's Assembly according to paragraph 1.
- ↑ The Thai name of the assembly, Samatcha Haeng Chat (Thai: สมัชชาแห่งชาติ), literally translates as "National Assembly". However, "National People's Assembly" is its official title in English, whilst "National Assembly" is the English official title of the Thai parliament, of which the Thai name, Ratthasapha (Thai: รัฐสภา), literally translates as "State Assembly".
