Parliament extension to give time for charter bills: Yongyuth
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The leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party said yesterday that the planned extension of the current parliamentary session was aimed at allowing time for deliberation of the government's constitutional amendment bills.
Yongyuth Wichaidit, who is also deputy prime minister and interior minister, said a number of important laws were being lined up for deliberation by the National Assembly, including charter-change bills and the bill on reconciliation.
He said the government would go ahead with proposals by the House committee on national reconciliation. “Many sides and institutes share the views expressed in the committee’s proposals. I am confident the government will succeed in its support of the reconciliation proposals,” he said.
Yongyuth said the current legislative session needed to be extended until late next month to allow time for consideration of the many important laws.
House Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranond, who is also from Pheu Thai, said yesterday that two extra weeks should be sufficient for Parliament to complete its deliberation of the four or five remaining motions, including those on constitutional amendment.
The current parliamentary session is scheduled to end on April 18.
Somsak, who is also the Parliament president ex-officio, said he believed there would be no problems during the House meeting on WednesdayApril 4 to approve the reconciliation committee’s proposals.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he believed the government’s main goal in extending the parliamentary session was to complete the constitutional amendment soon.
Abhisit, who is the Democrat Party leader, warned that such haste would lead to problems. He said rushing charter change and reconciliation was aimed at whitewashing certain politicians’ wrongdoings.
“The Democrat Party insists that we support reconciliation, but we are against whitewashing the wrongdoings of crooked people. These two matters should not be mixed up,” he said.
A former prime minister, Abhisit said he believed Thai society also would not allow reconciliation to be abused for the purposes of whitewashing the wrongdoings of dishonest politicians.
