Anutin dissolves house to ‘return power to the people’
Anutin has announced the dissolution of the House, vowing to return power to the people, as Thais watch to see whether the Royal Gazette will publish the decree tonight.
He had earlier signalled his decision in a Facebook post on Thursday, writing in Thai: “I would like to return power to the people.”
There are now reports that Anutin has already submitted the royal decree on the House dissolution for royal endorsement this evening, with attention firmly fixed on whether the Royal Gazette website will carry the royal command later tonight.
His move comes in the wake of a heated joint sitting of Parliament in the second reading of a draft constitutional amendment. Lawmakers were considering Section 256/28, which sets the voting threshold for approving charter amendments.
The majority on the parliamentary committee had proposed using a simple majority of the combined House and Senate.
However, the joint sitting voted down the committee’s proposal and instead resolved to restore the requirement that any constitutional amendment must be approved by at least one-third of senators.
After a voice vote, the joint sitting formally endorsed the one-third Senate requirement for charter changes.
Earlier, sources had reported that Anutin was preparing to submit a request for a royal decree dissolving the House, amid strong indications that the People’s Party plans to file a no-confidence motion with a vote under Section 151.
