All eyes will be on whether a good election bill that could provide small political parties with a greater chance to win list-MP seats can complete the third and final reading in parliament today amid fears a rescheduled parliament joint session may be cancelled again as a result of lack of quorum.
On Thurs, Parliament President Chuan Leekpai ordered an unique joint meeting of MPs and senators to be held today, which is the deadline day for lawmakers to vote on the modification of an election bill that supports a calculation of the numbers of list MPs simply by dividing all ballots for list MPs by 500 because the divisor.
Today is the 180-day deadline for the expenses to be passed.
A mutual sitting on Thurs, which was supposed to be the last on the bill, collapsed due to an absence of quorum.
Observers stated the lack of quorum was a deliberate move to derail the bill’s passing after the number 500 was adopted as a divisor to estimate party-list seats in the second reading last month.
The 500 divisor would give small parties better chances in order to win list-MP seats because the minimum amount of votes needed to win a list-MP chair would be much smaller than with the 100 divisor in the original version.
According to legal experts, if the bill is not recommended by the deadline since required by the rental, the original version, sponsored by the cabinet and drafted by the Political election Commission, will be considered and approved by parliament.
The original proposed the number 100 as the divisor prior to a last-minute alter in the second reading through.
Deputy Democrat Party chief Ong-art Klampaiboon stated lawmakers have come under heavy criticism after several parliament sessions were cancelled regarding lack of a quorum. “The public has been dissatisfied with their overall performance. They were elected in order to represent people within parliament but they possess failed to carry out their particular duties, ” he or she said.
“The collapse from the sessions has destroyed the reputation of parliamentarians as a whole and those who were absent must offer an explanation why, ” Mister Ong-art said.
He mentioned it is likely that today’s session will also be cancelled once again because some MPs and senators caused it to be clear that they would be absent so the session will lack a quorum, to thwart the passage of the bill.
Pheu Thai Celebration MP for Bangkok and spokeswoman Theerarat Samretwanit said upon Sunday the resistance party will not help to make a quorum to get today’s joint seated of MPs to vote on the costs.
The girl said Pheu Thai MPs would oppose the bill’s provision to calculate the amount of list MPs by using 500 as the divisor.
Right after deliberation, Pheu Thai MPs would not confirm they will turn out to make a quorum for the vote, she said. The party has 133 MPs.
Ms Theerarat mentioned if a vote is definitely held today and the bill is usually dropped, there will be simply no election law, just a political vacuum.
If the Home is dissolved, the federal government will assume a caretaker role, she said.
Pirapan Salirathavibhaga, leader of the Ruam Thai Sang Chart Celebration, said the public is certainly fed up with the farcical turn of occasions regarding the list-seat computation method.
“No politicians treatment to push with regard to legislation to address the plight of the people as much as they care about the particular 100 or 500 divisors, ” he said.
Mr Pirapan said he believed today’s joint sitting would certainly collapse again. “As far as I understand, some MPs and senators have been advised to register for presence and return home.
“Regulations have been exploited with regard to personal benefits and those MPs who do this are dishonest and may be in breach of a code of ethics for political office-holders and Section 114 of the constitution which forbids MPs from being influenced or dictated to by others, ” Mister Pirapan said.
Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a Seri Ruam Thai Party member, said it is unclear whether today’s combined session will move forward or end up collapsing.
Coalition parties such as the Bhumjaithai Party and the Democrat Party have verified they will attend the particular meeting, even if Pheu Thai doesn’t. “Therefore, all eyes will be on the stance of MPs of the judgment Palang Pracharath Party, ” Mr Somchai said.
