Tempers frayed over 'Hasty Constitution for Thaksin'
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Coalition and opposition lawmakers on Tuesday needed two 30-minute recesses to cool down from exchanges of snide remarks before kicking off the session for the final two readings of the charter amendment bill.
House Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranont convened the morning’s session as a consultation on whether to shuffle the legislative agendas, paving the way for the debate on the bill designed to form the Constitution Drafting Assembly.
The Democrats took the floor to air their opposition views, citing two main reasons - the hasty manner in which the bill was designated for the legislative agenda despite the long weekend and the questionable vetting process done by the Sonthi Boonyaratglin committee.
Democrat MP Suthas Ngernmuen lashed out at the coalition for pushing for a hasty passage of the bill this month simply because MPs and senators have scheduled to travel abroad next month.
The Democrats then questioned whether the intent behind the rush for the passage of the bill was a pretext to rescue fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, referring to the charter as Hasty Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand for Thaksin and prompting an exchange of sharp words and protests between the coalition and opposition benches.
Somsak ordered the first break before reconvening before noon.
The reconvened session saw MPs still trading barbs. The Democrats tried to delay putting the bill on the House agenda while the coalition MPs wanted the consultation session to end in order to force a vote.
Somsak again had to call a recess.
In the afternoon, the House finally cast the 337-to-91 vote to designate the bill as a legislative priority, activating the charter debate.
The Democrats and Pheu Thai MPs then spent hours bickering over the name of the new charter as per the motion moved by Democrat MP Thepthai Sennapong who dubbed the charter the “Hasty Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand for Thaksin.
