PUBLISHED : 29 Jul 2023 at 04:00
The Pheu Thai Party will hold a meeting with its partners next week to discuss the future of the eight-party coalition and notify other parties outside the bloc and opposing senators about the outcome of the discussions.
Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday said his party will coordinate with its seven allies to set a date and time for the meeting ahead of a vote in parliament scheduled for Friday.
Mr Phumtham said other parties outside the coalition, including Bhumjaithai, Chartthaipattana, the pro-military Palang Pracharath and United Thai Nation, and senators Pheu Thai spoke to this week strongly opposed any move to amend Section 112. They would not support Pheu Thai if the Move Forward Party could potentially be in a ruling government coalition, he said.
“We will ask the [coalition] meeting what to do next,” Mr Phumtham said. “How will other coalition parties, particularly the MFP, help find a way [to form a government]? We want the MFP to make a decision on this issue.”
Pheu Thai is likely to nominate its own candidate after MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat lost in his second attempt to become PM on July 19. The second attempt for a vote failed because a majority of MPs and senators said the renomination of Mr Pita was the same motion which failed in the first vote, which was not allowed by Article 41 of the House regulations.
Parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha has announced a second vote for the next PM will take place this Friday. However, it may be held back, depending on whether the Constitutional Court accepts a petition challenging the renomination rejection of Mr Pita on Thursday.
If the court does not accept the petition, parliament will hold a vote for the prime minister the following day. If it does accept, a parliamentary vote will not take place until the court issues its ruling, possibly a week later.
Thida Thavornseth, a political activist and former chair of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), whose supporters are known as the “red shirts,” posted on Facebook to warn Pheu Thai against setting up a new government with the PPRP and UTN.
She said the red-shirt group was established after the coup in 2006 to fight against dictatorships. Red shirts stand firmly on the side of democracy, and while Pheu Thai is a democratic party, the activists also support the MFP’s democratic policies, she said.
If Pheu Thai chooses to switch sides and have the PPRP and UTN as coalition partners, the UDD will say goodbye to Pheu Thai and turn its disappointment into action, she warned.