Thailand's military government has appointed a committee to write a new constitution after an earlier version of the draft was rejected in a move that delayed elections until at least 2017.
Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krua-ngam says the new 21-member committee will begin work immediately and has six months to complete the draft charter.
The committee will be led by legal expert Meechai Ruchupan, who also led the junta-appointed panel that drafted a previous version of the constitution in 2007 after the overthrow of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 coup after being accused of corruption. His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was removed from office in 2014, shortly before the present military junta seized power.