Last Sunday, Thai voters approved a new constitution. The expected result clears the way for national elections later this year. But the military-installed government should not exaggerate the meaning of this vote. It is a vote for a constitution, not a particular government. The election that should follow must be free and fair. That will be the real test of Thailand's democracy.
When Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a bloodless coup in September 2006, the military junta that deposed him pledged to return power to a civilian government as soon as possible. Wary of a return to the populist politics that Mr. Thaksin had mastered, the military government set up a constitutional committee that would draft a new national charter, the 18th since 1932, to replace the 1997 "people's constitution" that introduced unprecedented democracy to Thailand.
As could be expected from a charter drawn up by a military-appointed group, the new charter gives more power to unelected bodies, such as the courts, and would fill half the seats in the Senate by appointment rather than election. Some charge that it safeguards the military's behind-the-scenes political role.