THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

PM urges people to wait for results, rejects unity govt idea

PM urges people to wait for results, rejects unity govt idea

JUNTA CHIEF General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday dismissed the idea of a national unity government amid a lack of clarity over the poll outcome, and insisted on waiting for the official vote results next month.

Apparently upset by the idea, Prayut said the government must be formed based on the Constitution and laws. 

PM urges people to wait for results, rejects unity govt idea
“We cannot just draw up regulations on our own. Now, we can only wait for the election results. The establishment of the government cannot be completed now,” the PM said. 
“You’ll have to see what motivated them to say that. What do they want?” he asked of the critics.
Prayut was referring to the suggestion by Democrat MP-to-be Thepthai Senapong. 
Conflict has revived after the general election, focused on which faction could muster sufficient MPs to form a coalition government.
Thepthai proposed on Monday that a national unity government could be a solution, but not with Prayut as head of government.
Rather, Thepthai said, the chosen PM should be a person acceptable to all sides.
In a related development, the Election Commission (EC) continued to be targeted following allegations of irregularities both in the elections and in the post-election procedures. 
These include its choice of method in calculating MP seats, which would allot seats to 11 small parties despite their failure to win sufficient votes to gain a single seat. 
Several activists, including Srisuwan Janya and Ekachai Hongkangwan, yesterday lodged complaints with the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) demanding impeachment of the seven EC commissioners.
They accused the EC of failing to conduct a credible election and deliver the results. 
Meanwhile, anti-junta politician Ruangkrai Leekitwatana yesterday filed a complaint with the Ombudsman to consider nullifying the March 24 election altogether, citing multiple errors related to the vote counting.

Formula ‘unconstitutional’
In a related development, Pheu Thai Party yesterday asserted that the formula the EC planned to use was unconstitutional. 
Party member Tossaporn Serirak told the press the EC’s calculation allocating some 11 seats to smaller parties that had gained less than 70,000 votes could not be permitted.
Citing the Constitution, the politician said the formula could only be used if there were not enough MPs in the House. 
Not only had the smaller parties failed to gain sufficient votes, said Tossaporn, but their entry into Parliament would be at the expense of larger parties that had got the votes, he explained. 
Future Forward Party, for example, would lose seven seats if the EC changed the formula to favour the smaller parties, he said. 
“I believe they will use this incorrect formula to pave the way for a particular party to become the coalition leader,” Tossaporn said. “Previously, the spokesman of that party has said they would make a deal with these small parties to muster MPs to compete with Pheu Thai’s coalition.”
Tossapon yesterday also petitioned the EC to reconsider its calculation method.
 

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