MPs also cite clash with King’s birthday
Parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha has postponed the vote for a new prime minister from Thursday, pending a Constitutional Court ruling on the rejected renomination of Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat.
Mr Wan said on Tuesday he made the decision after consulting with legal officials from the House of Representatives and his advisers.
They concluded that if the PM vote were to go ahead on Thursday, it could potentially lead to problems when the court makes its ruling afterwards, said Mr Wan, who also serves as the House speaker.
“With the vote postponed, today’s planned meeting of whips from the coalition allies, other political parties and senators became unnecessary,” he said.
Another reason for delaying the joint sitting of MPs and senators was that many were worried they would not be able to attend ceremonies to celebrate His Majesty the King’s birthday in their respective provinces on Friday if the sitting was prolonged, Mr Wan said.
The joint sitting for a prime ministerial vote can be put back on the parliamentary agenda after the court’s ruling.
Mr Wan earlier set Thursday for MPs and senators to vote again for a new prime minister, possibly a candidate from Pheu Thai, the second-largest party in the same alliance led by the MFP.
The MFP has agreed to let Pheu Thai take the lead in nominating a prime minister and forming the government.
The MFP also faces a challenge because many parties outside the eight-party coalition disapprove of its plan to revise Section 112 of the Criminal Code, also known as the lese majeste law.
Meanwhile, the MFP insists it will continue trying to get Mr Pita elected as prime minister.
He failed to win a majority in a joint vote by both houses on July 13.
Mr Pita was renominated at a joint sitting on July 19, but this was turned down, citing a parliamentary regulation.
Opponents argued the renomination was in violation of parliamentary regulation 41, which prohibits the resubmission of a failed motion during the same parliamentary session.
Mr Pita’s supporters and many academics disagreed and asked the Constitutional Court to rule on parliament’s rejection.
Constitutional Court president Worawit Kangsasitiam said on Tuesday the Ombudsman had electronically submitted a petition asking the court to rule on Mr Pita’s rejected renomination as well as to suspend the prime ministerial vote.
Mr Worawit said court officials will spend two days checking the document before forwarding the petition to a panel of judges to consider whether to accept it for deliberation — a process which will take five days.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s planned meeting of the eight political parties seeking to form a new government was abruptly cancelled.
It had been called by Pheu Thai to discuss progress in getting support for the nomination of a preferred prime minister.
Pheu Thai announced its cancellation in a message sent to reporters on the LINE app early on Tuesday afternoon. The message said the other seven parties had been informed.
According to sources, Pheu Thai had apologised to all the other parties for the cancellation.
Pheu Thai said its assigned task of seeking support from political parties outside the eight-party alliance, and from senators, in a parliamentary vote to select the new prime minister had not made satisfactory progress.
The move came after the Ombudsman on Monday decided to ask the court to rule on Mr Pita’s rejected renomination and order parliament to postpone the prime ministerial vote scheduled for Thursday.
MFP secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon said Pheu Thai probably now needed more time to prepare a proposal to be presented to the eight parties.