Pheu Thai MPs slam Constitution Court, want to proceed with third reading

While the opposition and some senators backed the court and proposed that Parliament delay deliberations, the ruling party’s MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, said Parliament did not have to comply with the Constitution Court’s “order”. They said the court had been wrong in accepting the cases, which should have gone through the attorney-general.

The government MPs also cited the announcement by the Office of the Attorney-General on Thursday night that it found no grounds for the complaints and would not pass on the cases to the Constitution Court.

Parliament President Somsak Kiartsuranont, who comes from the Pheu Thai Party, was attacked by the party’s MPs after vowing he would definitely not allow voting on the third reading of the charter amendment bill yesterday. 

Watana raised the case of Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul filing a complaint against Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva in 2006 for floating the idea of requesting a royal-sponsored prime minister. The Constitution Court at that time dropped the case, saying the complaint had not been filed via the attorney-general.

Abhisit clarified that the cases were different as his case was related to party dissolution and must be filed with the political party registrar first.

Senator Direk Teungfang said the idea of establishing an assembly to draft a new charter to replace the 2007 Constitution was in line with the proposal of the reconciliation panel he chaired a few years ago.

The Constitution Court yesterday informed Parliament secretary-general Pitoon Poomhiran that it had accepted the complaints for hearing. Therefore, Parliament should halt deliberations until the court had finished considering the complaints whether the charter amendment bill was against the current Constitution or not.

The third and final reading of the charter amendment bill had been scheduled for Tuesday, June 5, but was postponed indefinitely.

Somsak yesterday called a special House-Senate joint session, where acknowledgement of the Constitution Court’s letter was an agenda item. Pheu Thai MP Samart Kaewmeechai, chairman of the charter amendment panel, said Parliament could not just acknowledge it but must make a decision on the issue.

Samart said only the ruling, not the order, by the Constitution Court was deemed binding on Parliament. Therefore, Parliament could move on to deliberating the charter amendment. 

Samart said the charter amendment bill did not violate the law prohibiting change to the political system and toppling the constitutional monarchy as stipulated in Article 68 of the Constitution, as they are included in the content. 

The article prohibits overthrowing of the democratic regime and change to the constitutional monarchy system.

Samart said: “The Constitution Court is intruding, interfering in the work of the legislative branch.” He added that the court’s consideration process was illegal, as the cases must actually be filed with the attorney-general first. Democrat MP Wiratana Kalayasiri, one of the people who filed the case in the Constitution Court, said six groups had filed complaints against charter amendment with the attorney-general, but there was no progress after two weeks. The groups then filed the complaints directly to the Constitution Court. 

Reacting to Pheu Thai MPs citing the attorney-general’s decision on Thursday, Wiratana said: “The attorney-general did not investigate the facts, only looked at the complaints.”

The session was adjourned without voting on any issue yesterday. The next session is scheduled for 10am on Tuesday.