Wan Noor calls joint meeting of both Houses on August 4 to elect new PM
The Thai Parliament president has called a joint meeting of the Houses of Representatives and the Senate next Friday (August 4) to elect Thailand’s new prime minister if the Constitutional Court rejects a petition challenging a parliamentary vote that blocked the renomination of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat.
Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, the speaker of the House of Representatives who doubles as Parliament president, said on Thursday that if the court accepted the petition by the Ombudsman’s Office for hearing and issued an injunction, the election of prime minister would have to be postponed further.
If that happens, the joint meeting of both Houses scheduled for August 4 would deliberate a bill to amend Article 272 of the Constitution, which was submitted by the Move Forward Party, Wan Noor said.
Move Forward’s amendment bill seeks the removal of Article 272, which empowers the Senate to join the lower House in electing Thailand’s prime minister. The Senate will have the power for five years from May 2019 when the first National Assembly convened after the 2017 Constitution came into effect.
This power held by the unelected senators, which expires in May 2024, has been blamed for Pita’s failure to get sufficient parliamentary support to become prime minister. He obtained only 13 votes from the 250-member Senate.
The Constitutional Court’s judges are scheduled to meet next Thursday (August 3) to decide whether to accept the petition by the Ombudsman’s Office.
Wan Noor said on Thursday that he had decided against calling the next parliamentary meeting on the same day in order to wait for a court decision on the matter. Also, there is a six-day public holiday from this Friday until next Wednesday, so he needs to issue a meeting appointment for the parliamentarians on the first working day after that, which is Thursday.
The House speaker also said that he and a number of Thai MPs and senators would have to travel to Indonesia from August 5-10 to attend a meeting of parliamentarians from Asean.
Commenting on media reports that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra planned to end his self-exile overseas and return to Thailand on August 10, Wan Noor said he did not think the ex-PM’s return would affect the process and schedule of Parliament’s selection of new prime minister.
“There is no connection,” the Parliament president said when asked to comment on the matter.
At the next parliamentary meeting, a prime ministerial candidate from the Pheu Thai Party is expected to be nominated for election. After Pita’s failure to win majority support, Move Forward stepped aside to allow Pheu Thai to take the lead in the eight-party coalition’s attempt to form the next government.
