Pheu Thai withdraws petition for ouster of Anutin, Natthaphong
Pheu Thai withdraws petition seeking Constitutional Court to oust PM Anutin and Natthaphong, vows to revise content and resubmit.
House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on Monday that the Pheu Thai Party had withdrawn its petition asking the Constitutional Court to disqualify Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul and People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut as MPs.
Wan Noor said Pheu Thai party-list MP Wisut Chai-aroon contacted him to withdraw the petition in order to update its content and amend the list of signatories.
He added that he had not yet forwarded the petition to the Constitutional Court, and he was unsure whether Wisut would visit the House Secretariat on Tuesday or Wednesday to formally take it back.
On Sunday, Wisut and 59 Pheu Thai MPs submitted the petition to Wan Noor, asking him to forward it to the court to consider removing newly appointed Prime Minister Anutin and Natthaphong as MPs for signing a memorandum of agreement (MoA) ahead of Friday’s prime ministerial vote.
The petition alleged that the MoA signed between the two parties violated the constitution and the organic law on political parties. It further claimed that the signing of the MoA amounted to an attempt to overthrow the democratic system with the King as head of state.
The petition also alleged that the MoA was a “quid pro quo” arrangement to secure Anutin’s appointment as prime minister, in violation of Sections 28, 29 and 46 of the organic law on political parties. It claimed that Bhumjaithai had allowed the People’s Party to “control, dominate, or direct” its activities, compromising the independence of both the party and its MPs.
Wan Noor said that once Wisut resubmitted the revised petition, the House Secretariat would verify the list of signatories, but he himself would not make a judgement on the content. He emphasised that it would be up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether to accept the petition for judicial review.
He admitted that the signing of such an MoA was unprecedented in Thai politics, but stressed that he would remain neutral by simply forwarding the petition to the court without assessing its substance.
