The National Council for Peace and Order has denied it is planning to deploy high school students undergoing a territorial defence training course at polling stations to mobilise votes for the draft charter in the public referendum, Col Winthai Suwaree said on Sunday.
Col Winthai, the NCPO spokesman, delivered this statement in response to an accusation by some leading members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) that the students, known as Ror Dor, taking the military training course provided by the army, would be used for that purpose.
He said the army had the policy to encourage these students to take part as volunteers in various activitiesfor society.
They are, in fact, intended to help promote understanding on the draft charter and the referendum among their fellow youth or members of their families, not to tell eligible voters to vote for or against the draft charter as alleged, he added.
Col Winthai said the NCPO also did not have a policy to restrict the people's right to expression of opinion. What the NCPO had done was to counter opinions which had been distorted with a hidden agenda.
"The NCPO has not done anything to contravene the principle of public referendum. The people can still freely make their own decisions under an appropriate legal frame and method," he said.
He said it was possible that some political groups had opposed the draft charter because they were afraid that independent agencies would be given more power and the people would be able to petition for an investigation into suspected irregularities or corruption.
"An accusation that the draft charter, when in force, would benefit the NCPO the most has been made out of suspicion without concrete proof," said Col Winthai.
The NCPO spokesman also denied an allegation that under the draft charter the sovereign power would not be in the hands of the people, saying that it was another distortion. On the contrary, the new charter draft was intended to give the people the supreme power to exercise the checks and balances to safeguard the country's interests, he added.