Education bill withers as final joint session of Parliament fails to count
The last joint parliamentary meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives before the next election collapsed on Friday due to a lack of quorum.
Members of both chambers convened for the final time before the term of the House of Representatives ends on March 23 to discuss a bill on education. The meeting was a resumption of one adjourned on January 24.
Members of both chambers met to vote on a revision to Article 16 of the proposed legislation made by the vetting committee.
Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, who was chairing the joint meeting, called a quorum count but after 45 minutes of waiting, the parliamentarians failed to form one.
House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, who also serves as Parliament president, then took over as chair of the meeting.
He allowed Senator Tuang Antachai, who heads the bill’s drafting committee, to take the floor.
The senator said that his panel spent over a year patiently drafting the bill before managing to push it to parliament for deliberations. He thanked the parliamentarians who showed up.
A total of 320 MPs and senators turned up, three short of the required quorum of 333.
Chuan later declared the meeting adjourned.
Pornpetch then began chatting with the MPs and senators present. Some took selfies with him.
Earlier, Chuan thanked all the parliamentarians for their hard work over the past four years.
Parliament managed to pass a constitutional amendment, two organic laws, and 13 acts, as well as endorse 17 international agreements, the former prime minister said.
“There has been good cooperation, although there have been some problems near the end of the [parliamentary] session,” Chuan said, referring to frequent collapses of House sessions due to a lack of quorum.
He wished incumbent MPs success in the next general election and asked senators to continue serving as an “important force for the country”.
The current parliamentary session ends on February 28.
Chuan noted on Friday that the government has the power to call an extraordinary parliamentary session.
However, political observers see a slim chance of this happening because political parties are now focused on the general election tentatively scheduled for May 7. The election could happen earlier if the House is dissolved before its term ends.
