Reds still want vote on charter change bill
The red shirts would like the government to continue a third hearing in parliament on the controversial charter amendment bill. But its leaders say ties remain firm with Pheu Thai Party, which opted on Tuesday not to contest an injunction by the Constitut
Chairwoman of the red shirts, Thida Thavornseth, said the group still supports the bill being voted on, in spite of the court injunction. She said the red-shirt stance on the issue didn’t have to be in line with the ruling party, but she would monitor developments.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Natthawut Saikua – another red-shirt leader – told the Inside Thailand show on Spring TV news he would prefer parliament to continue debating the charter bill. But he understood the Cabinet’s reasons for wanting to avoid a political crisis. He was confident he could explain this to red shirts.
Natthawut’s remarks came after red shirts voiced upset at the charter bill being delayed. Some red-shirt MPs even claimed Parliament president Somsak Kiatsuranont should be impeached. Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister, Chalerm Yoobumrung said such comments were personal opinions but didn’t reflect “cracks” in Pheu Thai Party. However, the request to dump Somsak would be considered and people would have to accept the party’s decision on this.
Chief government whip Udomdej Rattanasathien said he disagreed with the idea to remove Somsak from the position, saying he had done nothing wrong.
“Somsak was blamed by both sides, government and opposition, which shows that he has done his job fairly,” Udomdej said.
He also asked the Chart Thai Pattana Party to take responsibility for failing to cast votes during the session on Tuesday about the Constitution Court injunction. He said that stemmed from leaders of the coalition party not reiterating to its member firmly to attend the session. So, the party had to explain why its eight MPs “disappeared”.
Seven Bhum Jai Thai MPs, who are in the opposition,
unexpectedly voted in line
with the ruling Pheu Thai
Party, but Udomdej believed
the MPs only gave support because they believed the court could not issue an injunction
to parliament. It wasn’t a sign that they wanted to join the government.
Udomdej said a session on whether to comply with the court’s order would take place, as long as the court had not made a ruling on the charter amendment bill.
Meanwhile, the House backed the first reading of Anti-Money Laundering Bill yesterday with a vote of 369-0. It also backed the first reading of a bill against financial support for terrorism. So, the House authorised two panels to consider the bills.
In other news, the Constitution Court agreed yesterday to consider a petition from Ruengkrai Leekitwattana, a former senator seeking to have the Democrat Party dissolved and penalised with a five-year political ban on its executives.
Ruengkrai claims Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was picked to be prime minister in December 2008 after an illegal vote in parliament. Ruengkrai claims that 46 votes backing Abhisit were unconstitutional as the people involved were from three banned political parties.
