Parliament will continue meeting despite MP resignations: Chuan
Parliament will continue meeting as scheduled even though several MPs have filed letters of resignation to prepare for the upcoming election, House Speaker Chuan Leekapai said on Thursday.
The MPs are quitting before the House of Representatives’ four-year term ends on March 23. They are reportedly switching to newly formed or other parties ahead of the upcoming election.
Chuan said the House would continue meeting and that it had more than 20 issues to consider before the current session of parliament ends, adding that the parliament had already spent over 2 million on the current House session.
Chuan said that he may add Fridays as another meeting day to ensure MPs have enough time to consider important issues.
He said it was not new for some MPs to be working and attending meetings, while others resign. It happened in the late 1990s during the government of General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (1996-1997), Chuan said.
The difference now is that the current prime minister and leader of the ruling party are not MPs and, therefore, cannot give advice to other MPs in their party, Chuan said.
He also rebutted rumours that Democrat Party executives are pressuring party leader Jurin Laksanawisit to resign.
Although the party’s image is “not what it used to be '', the Democrat Party is united, said Chuan, who is president of the Democrat Party’s advisory committee.
