NLA in a rush to push through draft
Play
Move on meeting procedures would enable body to pursue impeachment of ousted govt's politicians; Pheu Thai warns against 'misusing regulation'
The National Legislative Assembly will speed up the second and third readings of the draft regulation on its meeting procedures, paving the way for what is expected to be a continuation of impeachment proceedings against politicians of the previous government.
The draft, if passed on Thursday as NLA member Assoc Prof Thaweesak Suthakavathin expects, would give teeth to the current lawmakers to accept many pending impeachment cases.
Before being scrapped by the military following the May 22 coup, the 2007 Constitution empowered the Senate to impeach politicians.
Prior to the coup, then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and many of her cabinet members were in the process of being impeached for corruption and misconduct.
More than 300 lawmakers of the then-ruling Pheu Thai Party and its coalition parties, as well as a number of senators, also faced impeachment for their role in the amendment of the previous constitution.
As a consequence of the coup, none of them now hold a political position but the junta’s lawmakers want to ban them from politics and stop them from running in future elections.
Pheu Thai Party ex-MP Udomdej Rattana-satien said the military-dominated legislative body should not use such a regulation to extend its power to impeach politicians.
Udomdej, who once served as government chief whip, said the interim charter did not authorise the NLA to impeach political office holders.
No legitimacy
He said that although the NLA is performing the role of Senate, it did not have the legitimacy to remove elected political office holders because its members were hand-picked by the junta.
Even though some NLA members had argued that the legitimacy question was open to legal interpretation, the body should not be allowed to impeach in accordance with the democratic spirit.
Another Pheu Thai ex-MP, Cherdchai Tantisirin, said the move to impeach politicians would deepen political divisions and went against the junta’s reconciliation mantra.
Cherdchai said that NLA members who backed the draft were opponents of the previous government.
They should shift their focus to draw up or amend other laws that are useful to the country, rather than get rid of politicians.
The NLA is scheduled to meet on Thursday and Friday to scrutinise the impeachment issue.
Taweesak, who serves as deputy chairman of the committee drafting the meeting regulations, said some members reserved the right to alter provisions in the draft but he was confident the deliberations on the draft would be completed on Thursday.
NLA member Thani Onlahiad said he had proposed amending the draft in order to set up a committee to look into each impeachment case, as each case was different in terms of offences.
Thani said the NLA would vote on whether to impeach anyone based on information gathered by the committee.
He said he did not have a political motivation for proposing the amendment. He wanted the NLA to be politically neutral so that it was not branded a “rubber stamp” agency.
