Bhumjaithai and People’s Party amendment clears first reading, Pheu Thai fails to gain approval
Thailand’s parliament approves the Bhumjaithai-People’s Party constitutional amendment drafts in the first reading, while Pheu Thai’s draft is rejected due to insufficient support from senators.
During a parliamentary session on Wednesday (October 15) to consider constitutional amendments, three drafts were submitted: one by the Pheu Thai Party, one by the Bhumjaithai Party, and one by the People’s Party.
The parliament spent two hours voting individually. The results showed that the People’s Party draft was approved in principle, receiving 460 votes from MPs and 108 from senators, totalling 568 votes in favour, with 10 against and 74 abstentions. This exceeded the required majority and the one-third threshold of senators, thereby passing the first reading.
The Bhumjaithai Party draft was also approved in principle, receiving 629 votes in total, including 161 votes from senators, exceeding the required thresholds.
By contrast, the Pheu Thai draft received 521 votes from MPs, surpassing half of the House members. However, only 60 senators supported it, falling short of the one-third requirement of 67 senators, resulting in the draft failing to pass the first reading.
Following the vote, House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha summarised the session and indicated that the approved drafts would proceed to a special committee to merge and revise them into a single draft. This will then be submitted for consideration in the second and third readings of parliament.
