PUBLISHED : 5 Aug 2023 at 04:00
Parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha yesterday adjourned a joint sitting after lawmakers began debating his decision to reject a motion on Pita Limjaroenrat’s failed bid to become prime minister.
The motion had been proposed by a Move Forward Party (MFP) MP to review Mr Pita’s earlier renomination rejection. However, the debate was adjourned after proving inconclusive.
The meeting was originally intended for parliament to vote for a PM to be nominated by Pheu Thai and to consider a draft bill proposed by the MFP seeking to amend Section 272 of the constitution, which gives senators the power to vote with MPs in the selection of the PM.
However, the vote to select a PM was cancelled after the Constitutional Court postponed to Aug 16 its decision on whether to accept for consideration the Ombudsman’s petition for it to rule on the constitutionality of parliament’s rejection of Mr Pita’s renomination. Remaining on the agenda was the MFP’s draft bill seeking to amend Section 272 of the constitution.
The meeting was scheduled to begin at 9.30am. However, it was unable to convene right away as only 239 of the 747 active members of the two Houses had signed in, causing a lack of quorum.
The meeting managed to reach a quorum after an hour of waiting. When the meeting started to convene, Rangsiman Rome, an MFP list-MP, proposed an urgent motion, asking parliament to review its resolution passed on July 19 to reject the renomination of Mr Pita, who had failed to get approval in the first round of voting.
But Mr Wan rejected the motion. He said all those concerned should wait for the Constitutional Court to make its decision on Aug 16. If parliament proceeded with the motion as proposed, it might contravene the Constitutional Court’s power, he said.
His decision drew protests from MPs, including Dr Cholnan Srikaew, the Pheu Thai leader, who rose to speak in support of Mr Rangsiman’s motion.
Prapan Khunmee, a senator, said, however, that the motion proposed by Mr Rangsiman should be rejected.
After about 30 minutes of inconclusive debating, Mr Wan abruptly rose, saying: “As the president of parliament, I hereby order today’s meeting adjourned.”