Joint Parliament meeting on education bill collapses for 2nd time in 2 days
A joint sitting of MPs and senators to deliberate the second reading of the education bill collapsed for the second time in two days on Wednesday after too few lawmakers registered attendance.
The collapse came a day after Tuesday’s vote on Section 7/1 of the bill was called off because not enough MPs and senators were present.
Wednesday’s vote on Section 8/1 saw 349 parliamentarians insert their ID cards to register attendance. However, some cast their vote before Parliament deputy president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai called for an official vote. As a result, Pornpetch announced he would have to clear the data so parliamentarians could register and vote again. However, only 339 MPs and senators did so, failing to meet the simple majority of both two Houses needed to form a quorum.
Opposition Pheu Thai MP Jirayu Hungsup then called for a fresh vote, which led to a dispute between opposition and coalition MPs and senators, who said Section 8/1 should be considered passed.
Piraphet Sirikul (Pheu Thai-Kalasin) informed Pornpetch that the meeting should be adjourned for failing to achieve a quorum.
Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn then rose to propose Pornpetch conduct a recount of the number of parliamentarians and votes.
The House of Representatives was dubbed “collapsible” by press late last year for the frequency with which meetings were adjourned and votes failed due to the lack of a quorum.
