Phalang Pracharat MPs move to delay House Speaker voting
Phalang Pracharat MPs proposed postponing the voting for House Speaker in Parliament on Saturday amid reports that the pro-junta camp is still negotiating with other parties to form a coalition government.
The House convened at 10.30am on Saturday to choose the House Speaker.
The most senior MP in the House, Chai Chidchob from the Bhumjathai Party, chaired the meeting.
However, the proposal was opposed by Phue Thai MPs who said they should not waste more time and budget on delaying the process.
The House debated the solution for more than an hour but did not decide on whether to delay voting.
Chai later ordered a break for the meeting to resume at 1pm.
It is expected that three candidates will be nominated on Saturday. They are Sompong Amornwiwat from Pheu Thai, Chuan Leekpai from Democrat Party and Suchat Tancharoen from Phalang Pracharat.
The Democrats nominated Chuan to see if any bloc between the pro-junta camp, led by Phalang Pracharat, or anti-junta, led by Pheu Thai, will vote for Chuan, a party source said.
The Democrat party has still not decided which side they would join but a source said: “If any bloc votes for Khun Chuan, you will know whom we will join [to form government].”