Barkar Nash (Page 959)

Tropical storm “Doksuri” from Taiwan will not hit Thailand directly but the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) has warned a monsoon will hit Thailand from Saturday until Tuesday week, bringing heavy rain to 46 provinces.

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek yesterday said the TMD had advised the storm is moving northeastward and is expected to hit Taiwan on Wednesday. Although Thailand will not experience the full force of the storm, it will exacerbate monsoon conditions and result in rainfall over the weekend.

The TMD also forecast heavy rainfall today in some areas of the lower North, Northeast, Central Plains, including Bangkok and its adjacent provinces, as well as the East and western part of the South, which may result in flash floods and runoff, especially in foothill slopes and lowlands.

The Pheu Thai Party leader has said if the election-winning Move Forward Party (MFP) is part of its coalition alliance, it is unlikely to win enough parliamentary support to elect a prime minister and form the next government.

Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew said on Sunday that over the past two days Pheu Thai discussed the eight-party alliance’s government formation efforts with political parties outside its bloc and determined that the other parties will not support the effort if the alliance includes a party that plans to change the lese majeste law, Section 112 of the Criminal Code that punishes anyone deemed to have criticised senior members of the royal family with up to 15 years in prison.

Dr Cholnan was apparently referring to the MFP, the other main member of the eight-party alliance.

The eight-party alliance had a majority of 312 votes in the elected House, but needed at least 375 votes from both the House and the military-appointed Senate to have a prime minister installed and then a new government established. Of the joint sitting of both houses comprising 500 representatives and 249 senators, 375 will form a minimal majority vote.

Most senators already showed they did not support the MFP when its leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to win a majority vote from a joint sitting to become prime minister on July 13 and again on July 19.

After meeting key figures of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) on Sunday evening, Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew said PPRP was another political party that would not support the coalition if it included any party that planned to amend the lese majeste law.

“Most parties (that Pheu Thai met) are unlikely to vote in favour of the coalition alliance,” the Pheu Thai leader said. He denied that Pheu Thai was inviting any political party outside its eight-party bloc to join their coalition government.

Dr Cholnan admitted that if the coalition alliance still comprises the same old eight parties, other parties will not support the coalition in the parliament. He also confessed that the coaltion would need at least 375 votes from the House and the Senate.

On Monday Pheu Thai would discuss the matter with representatives of senators and on Tuesday it would report its findings to the seven other parties in its coalition alliance, Dr Cholnan said. He expected the eight coalition allies to reach a conclusion on Tuesday.

“We will have a joint announcement on the government formation. We have two days, July 25 and 26, and on July 27 (Thursday) it will be known who will be nominated (for prime minister) in the parliament,” Dr Cholnan said.

The leader of the Chartthaipattana Party on Sunday told the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) that is taking the lead in forming the next government that it will not vote for a prime ministerial candidate from Pheu Thai if its coalition includes a party that wants to change the lese majeste (royal insult) law.

Chartthaipattana Party leader Varawut Silpa-archa informed a press conference of his party’s standpoint after meeting key Pheu Thai figures at PTP headquarters on Sunday. He apparently referred to the election-winning Move Forward Party (MFP) which has stood firm on changing the lese majeste law or Section 112 of the Criminal Code.

The MFP won 151 House seats in the May 14 general election. It teamed up with Pheu Thai, which came second with 141 House seats, and six other parties to attempt the formation of the next government. Their coalition had 312 of the 500 House seats.

But Move Forward failed to win a majority vote from the elected House and the military-appointed Senate for the premiership of its sole prime ministerial candidate and leader Pita Limjaroenrat. MFP recently decided to let Pheu Thai nominate its prime ministerial candidate and take the lead in forming the next government.

Pheu Thai has discussed forming a government with parties outside its eight-party coalition alliance, meeting the Bhumjaithai, United Thai Nation and Chartpattanakla parties. Bhumjaithai and United Thai Nation insisted that they will not support Pheu Thai’s government formation if its coalition includes MFP.

Pheu Thai then proceeded to hold talks with Chartthaipattana, which holds 10 House seats, on Sunday.

After the meeting, Mr Varawut said his party would vote for a prime ministerial candidate from Pheu Thai as long as no party in its alliance intended to amend the lese majeste law.

“If any political party shares the same thinking with Chartthaipattana, to leave the (lese majeste) law intact and have positive attitudes and respect for the (royal) institution, then we can work together. If there is any political party with a different standpoint, we will work separately,” Mr Varawut said.

“If Pheu Thai has a similar direction with Chartthaipattana about the institution and Section 112 and if there is a prime ministerial candidate from Pheu Thai, we, Chartthaipattana, will be willing to give support. But Pheu Thai must not have any party with a different concept from ours,” Mr Varawut said.

On the same occasion, Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew said the eight-party coalition alliance assigned Pheu Thai to gather support for government formation with other political parties, and was seeking their opinions.

Dr Cholnan denied that Pheu Thai was inviting other parties outside its alliance to join its coalition and would exclude MFP from the alliance, sending the election-winning party to the opposition.

An investigation is being conducted into an accident in which a car fell into a ditch while turning into Soi 28 off the Vibhavadi Rangsit highway in Bangkok on Friday.

Sawang Buranathanakit, director of the Road Construction Office 1 of the Highway Department, said that from an initial investigation the accident occurred on a road branching off Vibhavadi Rangsit (Highway 31) into Soi 28 where a roadside ditch was being dredged under a development project.

He said all contractors of the Highway Department’s development projects have been told to strictly take safety measures by putting up warning and traffic signs as well as placing barriers for motorists to be careful while passing areas under construction to prevent accidents.

The accident on Soi 28 off Vibhavadi Rangsit highway happened in heavy rain and the road surface was inundated. An investigation was being conducted to determine what caused the accident or whether there were any mistakes to prevent a recurrence of it, Mr Sawang said.

He said the Highway Department had told the project contractor to contact the owner of the car involved in the accident to compensate for the damage.

The accident was brought to public attention after the driver of the car posted on TikTok a video clip of the area after the accident.

He said there were no signs to tell motorists to be careful while passing an area under construction.

The man said he narrowly escaped death and felt very sad seeing his beloved new EV sink into the water before his eyes.

Police have seized large quantities of illegal guns and ammunition and arrested 966 suspects in a month-long nationwide crackdown that began on July 1, deputy police chief Pol Gen Torsak Sukwimol said on Sunday.

As of July 21, the police had raided 1,658 targets nationwide, arrested 966 suspects, seized 911 illegal guns, 44,540 rounds of assorted ammunition, two explosives and 6,239 methamphetamine pills, he said.

In one of the raids, police from Khao Phanom district, Krabi province, laid siege to a house in tambon Na Khao which belonged to a suspect called Boom, 28, who was wanted under three warrants on drug and attempted murder charges.

The suspect fled on a motorcycle from the back of the house. When the police followed, he opened fire at them with a gun, Pol Gen Torsak said. The suspect was killed in an ensuing exchange of fire.

Found by his side were a 9mm Mauser pistol, one M67 hand grenade and two smoke grenades.

The operation targeting illegal weapons, gunmen for hire and the illegal weapon trades is being conducted from July 1-30 under the supervision of assistant police chief Pol Lt Gen Samran Nualma – with information from the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Provincial Police Regions 1-9, Central Investigation Bureau, Narcotic Suppression Bureau, Tourist Police Bureau, Immigration Police Bureau, Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau and Border Patrol Police.

The Move Forward Party (MFP) will not quit the eight-party coalition it put together; otherwise, it will be considered to have let people down, its leader Pita Limjaroenrat said on Sunday.

During his trip to Chanthaburi province, reporters asked Mr Pita to comment on whether several other parties in the alliance were apparently trying to convince his party to sacrifice itself and leave the coalition to pave the way for the formation of the next government.

“A sacrifice would mean to dump 14 million votes and disappoint people. Now promises and principles must be kept, rather than telling a party to sacrifice itself,” Mr Pita said, referring to the 14 million votes his party received in the May 14 general election.

“If we keep the promises we have made with people, no one will have to make a sacrifice,” he said.

Mr Pita acknowledged that the Pheu Thai Party had offered talks with the Palang Pracharath and United Thai Nation (UTN) parties.

Reporters asked if the meetings were intended to pressure MFP to leave the eight-party alliance. Mr Pita said that if the two latter parties join the coalition, MFP could not stay.

“As far as I know, the parties were invited only for an exchange of opinions. I will wait for an explanation from the Pheu Thai Party… I confirm that I still have trust and confidence in the Pheu Thai Party,” Mr Pita said.

He also acknowledged the meeting of Pheu Thai with Bhumjaithai, Chartpattanakla and UTN which saw MFP as their obstacle to government formation.

Reporters asked if the stance was aimed at pressuring MFP to call off its government formation efforts. Mr Pita said if the eight coalition allies remained united, there would not be any pressure.

Asked how MFP would respond if its seven coalition allies wanted it to back down on its efforts to amend the lese majeste law, Mr Pita said he would then listen to the details of the allies’ standpoints on the law.

Mr Pita said his morale was good and would we maintained by his trips to provinces to support the work of MFP MPs.

He also said his legal team was preparing defence in petitions against his eligibility for political office and Move Forward had not made any mistakes in failing to win prime ministerial and House speaker seats.

Following a decades-long tradition of court rulings trumping the ballot box, one legal petition has already resulted in the Constitutional Court suspending Mr Pita’s MP role.

A majority of people believe the ongoing process of selecting the prime minister in parliament will cause division in Thai society, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.

The poll was conducted on July 11-12 by telephone interviews with 1,310 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education, occupations and incomes throughout the country to compile their opinions on whether or not they believed the ongoing selection of the prime minister in parliament will further divide people in Thai society.

In responding to this question, 37.10% said they highly believed this would happen, while 26.64% said the chance of this happening was moderate. On the other side, 20.15% did not think this would happen at all and 16.03% did not quite believe this would happen. The rest, 0.08% had no answer or were not interested.

Asked for how long they thought the new government would last, 60.53% believed it would complete the four-year term; 15.34% said it would last about two years; 11.91% about one year; 6.95% less than six months; 3.28% about three years; and 1.99% had no answer or were not interested.

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University also carried out a survey online during July 20-22 on 1,809 people throughout the country to gauge their opinions on “conflicts in the selection of the prime minister.”

Asked to comment on conflicts in the selection of the prime minister, with each respondent allowed to give more than one answer, 71.73% believed people in society would be further divided; 67.90% said the conflicts would cause people to feel tired of politics; and 62.23% said the conflicts would affect the economy and the people’s livelihood.

Asked what they thought are the causes of the conflicts, 74.21% said political parties are overly obsessed with fighting for power and interests; 63.76% put the blame on senators; and 62.42% said some parties have no respect on the people’s voice and do not concede defeat.

A majority of people believe the ongoing process of selecting the prime minister in parliament will cause division in Thai society, according to two opinion surveys.

The first, by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, was conducted on July 11-12 by telephone interviews with 1,310 people aged 18 and over of various levels of education, occupations and incomes throughout the country.

Asked whether the parliamentary voting procedure would divide society, 37.10% said they strongly believed this would be the case, while 26.64% said the chance of this happening was moderate. On the other side, 20.15% did not think this would happen at all and 16.03% doubted this would happen. The rest, 0.08% had no answer or were not interested.

Asked for how long they thought the new government would last, 60.53% believed it would complete the four-year term; 15.34% said it would last about two years; 11.91% about one year; 6.95% less than six months; 3.28% about three years; and 1.99% had no answer or were not interested.

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University also carried out a survey online during July 20-22 on 1,809 people throughout the country to gauge their opinions on “conflicts in the selection of the prime minister”.

With each respondent allowed to give more than one answer, 71.73% believed society would be further divided; 67.90% said the conflicts would cause people to feel tired of politics; and 62.23% said the conflicts would affect the economy and people’s livelihoods.

Asked what they thought the causes of the conflicts were, 74.21% said political parties are overly obsessed with fighting for power and interests; 63.76% put the blame on senators; and 62.42% said some parties have no respect for the people’s voice and do not concede defeat.