MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Thailand backs a provision banning unconstitutional changes of government in a draft charter being prepared by Southeast Asian countries despite its recent military coup, the Thai foreign minister said Wednesday.
The bloodless coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last Sept. 19 was a temporary "glitch" and Thailand will return to democracy, Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said.
"We agree. We would like to go back to being fully democratic," Nitya said of the provision.
"We have had glitches, we have had some difficulties on this road to democracy," he said on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Manila. "But you will notice, please, that every time there has been a change, we've always come back to the same path."
The provision in the draft charter says ASEAN member states will adhere "to the rule of law, good governance and the principle of democracy including the rejection of unconstitutional or undemocratic changes of government."
Thailand's military ousted Thaksin last year while he was abroad, accusing him of corruption and abuse of power. It installed an interim government and a council to draft a new constitution, which is to be submitted to a national referendum on Aug. 19.
General elections are to be held in December.
Nitya said it was clear among Thailand's post-Thaksin rulers that the country would return to democracy from the first day they took power.
Aside from the ban on coups, Thailand also supports provisions in the draft ASEAN charter upholding human rights, he said.
The draft charter includes a clause mandating the creation of a regional human rights commission. Military-ruled Myanmar tried fiercely to block the provision, but ASEAN foreign ministers agreed Monday to include it in the draft, which still must be approved by the region's leaders.
ASEAN, formed in 1967, has decided to adopt a charter to become a more credible rules-based organization with better bargaining power in international negotiations.
The Thai coup has been seen as one of the recent setbacks to democracy in a region that has experienced the downfall of Cold War-era dictatorships.
In the Philippines, a nonviolent 1986 "people power" uprising toppled Ferdinand Marcos, ending years of dictatorial rule.
A similar army-backed uprising, however, deposed popular President Joseph Estrada in 2001 over alleged misrule and corruption, sweeping current leader Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to power.
