Former MPs spared impeachment

The 248 ex-members had been charged by the National Anti-Corruption Commission for amending the 2007 Constitution regarding the make-up of the Senate. 

The NACC submitted the case to the NLA for impeachment, with the 248 divided into three groups based on their level of alleged guilt. 

The first group involved the 237 MPs who signed up to support the amendment and voted to pass it in three readings. The second group involved an MP who signed up to support the amendment and voted to pass it in the second and third readings. The last group consisted of the 10 MPs who signed up to support the amendment and voted to pass it in the first and third readings.

At least three-fifths of the NLA, or 132 of its 220 members, had to vote to impeach for it to be successful. The NLA session, presided over by its president Pornpetch Wichitchol-chai, lasted more than seven hours. Starting from 10am, NLA members began casting their votes in a polling booth.

All groups were spared from impeachment, with “nay” votes ranging between 140 and 150, while “yes” votes were 55 to 65. 

An NLA source on Thursday revealed that the vote would be positive for the former MPs. He said one of the reasons the majority of NLA members would vote to spare them was belief that their guilt was unclear, unlike the rice-subsidy case against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It was their view that the former MPs had the right to amend the Constitution. 

In addition, the source said 38 former senators had previously survived impeachment on the same grounds, so the same standard should apply. The source also said many NLA members feared another “political situation” because the ex-MPs would have received a lifetime political ban if impeached. 

The Pheu Thai Party held a press conference in which it praised the NLA for voting against the impeachment. The party’s acting chairman Viroj Pao-in, one of those facing impeachment, thanked the NLA for being fair.