Opposition leader calls for House dissolution, slams govt for economic woes
The leader of the Opposition on Thursday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and dissolution of the House after blaming his government for the country’s economic woes and Covid-19 crisis, as a parliamentary debate got underway on Thursday.
The general debate, held under Section 152 of the Constitution, started at 9.50am. House Speaker Chuan Leekpai reminded whips of both sides to keep the slots for both sides. He said the opposition is allotted 22 hours for the debate while the government will get eight hours to respond.
The Section allows a debate on national issues for MPs to suggest solutions but no voting will be held after a debate, unlike a no-confidence debate when a censure voting is held.
Pheu Thai Party leader Cholnan Srikaew took the floor at 9:58 am and launched a broadside against the prime minister. He said the mismanagement by the Prayut government had worsened the economic crisis, leading to rising cost of living throughout the country.
Cholnan said the Prayut government had failed to tackle the pandemic among humans and disease in farm animals, referring to the African Swine Fever (ASF).
The opposition leader pointed out that the government had failed to effect political reforms as promised and it had no efficiency in administering the country, worsening several issues that included drug trafficking, corruption, and PM2.5 air pollution as well as environmental issues regarding a gold mining concession.
He said all the problems stemmed from the writing of the current charter that allowed the coup architects to retain power by forming a coalition government that lacked stability.
He said that after the opposition held a censure debate on September 4 2020, the government has never been able to rally enough MPs to make a quorum of 238 MPs during House meetings.
“Thais in the entire country are suffering from rising cost of living while their wages are very low,” Cholnan said.
“Why did the government cover up the spread of ASF and why didn’t it announce its existence earlier? The government also mishandled the Covid-19 situation and prolonged it. Fortunately, Omicron came in to save the government.”
Cholnan said when Pheu Thai MP Sutin Klungsaeng makes the closing arguments of the debate, the government would definitely be in a bad shape. He said if the government failed to solve the problems, which were highlighted during the debate, by May, the opposition would definitely hold a no-confidence debate against the administration.
