Public approval of MPs plum
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Activist Ruangkrai Leekitwattana has petitioned the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate and determine whether Democrat MP Nutt Bantadtan violated the ethical code following his use of a smartphone to view a girlie picture during a parliamentary session
Even though Nutt conceded he’d opened the picture sent by a messenger application in order to delete it, his action tarnished Parliament’s reputation, Ruangkrai said yesterday.
Public confidence in Parliament has plummeted following the appearance of the raunchy image on two in-house TV monitors during the charter amendment debate on Wednesday.
Based on the Abac Poll released yesterday, some four in five people said they had lost trust in the legislative branch. About three in five said House Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranont should issue an apology for the incident.
More than half of the 2,664 respondents wanted officials responsible for the audio visual room to step forward and apologise for the mishap.
About one in three said Democrat MP Nutt should resign in order to accept responsibility for using his smartphone to view the picture.
Some three in five people said they believed the incident would fade away without any action taken.
In another survey done by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, about half the 1,127 respondents said Nutt had no credible explanation to justify his viewing of the picture when the legislative session was in progress.
Some two in five people said they believed both coalition and opposition lawmakers would politicise the incident for their political gains.
Almost half the respondents said they were uncertain whether there would be a repeat of the incident.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the two opinion surveys showed the people wanted Nutt to quit his House seat.
Prompong said he was closely watching whether the Democrat Party would uphold the ethical code or opt to shield Nutt.
“The Democrats will tarnish their own reputation if they choose to keep a rotten fish,” he said.
He also said his ruling party had lodged a complaint at the Dusit police station, calling for an investigation on whether Nutt’s viewing of his smartphone had caused the mishap on the two TV monitors.
