Pheu Thai's unforced setback on charter change
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The Pheu Thai Party on Wednesday made a grave error by neglecting to check the coalition attendance before voting, hence suffering a humiliating defeat on a key clause for the formation of the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
After weeks of fiery vetting on the charter amendment bill, House committee chair Samart Kaewmechai called for a vote on the government-sponsored clause outlining the CDA formation.
Under the government draft, the CDA will comprise 99 seats, of which 77 will be directly elected to represent each province and 22 are to picked by Parliament from a pool of academics.
The CDA clause is seen as the lynchpin to frame a new charter.
When the vote was called, Samart failed to notice that a number of Pheu Thai MPs had stepped out of the meeting room. Consequently, the outcome was the clause was dropped by the 12-to-10 vote despite the coalition’s majority in the committee.
The unforced defeat resulted in the committee to engage in a heated debate on the implications of the vote. The committee then adjourned with several unanswered questions.
Samart conceded his mistake to have called the vote without checking attendance.
He was seen huddled with Pheu Thai MPs and making several telephone calls trying to undo the vote.
The Nation
