Compromise reached after parties vie for coveted House panels

The parties managed to reach a compromise on contentious issues that threatened to lead to lot-drawing as a means to solve the deadlock.

Second deputy House speaker Pichet Chuamuangpan from the ruling Pheu Thai Party, who chaired the meeting of representatives from all the parties, thanked them for “meeting halfway” over the issues they earlier failed to reach agreement.

Move Forward, the largest party with 151 MPs, will chair 11 House committees.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party, with 141 MPs, will chair 10 House committees, including the significant panel on the prevention and suppression of corruption, which is supposed to play a key role in scrutinising the government.

Most other House committees that Pheu Thai MPs are expected to chair involve the work of the ministries that the party’s Cabinet members are in charge of. These include the House panels on transport, tourism, public health, foreign affairs, finance, and telecoms.

Pheu Thai will chair the committee on House of Representatives affairs.

Meanwhile, despite its larger number of MPs, the opposition Move Forward Party will chair less coveted House committees.

These include the panels to follow-up the state budget, political development and public participation, economic development, social welfare, military affairs, national security and reform, natural resources and the environment, courts and independent organisations, science and technology, and consumer protection.
 

The Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest coalition partner, will chair five House committees, including education, administration, labour, and natural disasters. These committees mostly involve the work of ministries being overseen by Bhumjaithai politicians, including the party’s leader Anutin Charnvirakul, who is serving as deputy prime minister and interior minister, and Education Minister Permpoon Chidchob.

The coalition Palang Pracharath Party will chair three House committees: Sports, debt problems, and farm-produce prices.
The opposition Democrat Party will chair two House committees, intellectual property and police affairs.

The coalition United Thai Nation Party will also chair two House panels – energy and industry – mirroring the work of two ministries being overseen by the party. Its leader, Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, is serving as energy minister and deputy premier, while its MP Pimpattra Wichaikul is the industry minister.

The party also agreed to share with Move Forward the four-year term of the chairmanship of the House committee on court affairs.

The coalition Chart Thai Pattana and Prachachat parties each chair one House committee, on children, women, the elderly, the disabled, minority groups, and LGBTQ, and on justice and human rights, respectively.

All parties are expected to nominate their MPs to sit in the 35 House committees on September 27, according to Pichet, who chaired Thursday's meeting. The panels will convene their first meeting on September 28 to select the chairpersons and other positions, he said.