PUBLISHED : 10 Aug 2023 at 04:00
Political activist Sonthiya Sawasdee yesterday asked the Office of the Ombudsman to seek a judicial review on the actions of 314 MPs and senators who last month voted for Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat to be the next prime minister, despite knowing his MP status was under review.
Mr Sonthiya’s petition came after the office asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of parliament’s rejection of Mr Pita’s renomination on July 19. The court is scheduled to rule on Aug 16 on whether to accept the petition for consideration.
Mr Sonthiya, a former adviser to the House committee on law, justice and human rights, said that before the vote to select a new prime minister, the Election Commission (EC) had already started the process to potentially disqualify Mr Pita for his iTV share ownership.
The EC found Mr Pita held shares in iTV, a media company, at the time he registered his electoral candidacy, which is a violation of sections 101(6) and 98(3) of the constitution.
The agency sent the case to court and asked it to suspend the MFP leader as an MP.
Mr Sonthiya said that even though the court accepted the EC’s petition for deliberation and suspended Mr Pita as an MP, the lawmakers from the eight-party bloc led by the MFP and some senators proceeded to vote for him.
“Parliament knew about the EC’s case against Mr Pita, but this group of MPs and senators went ahead with his nomination on July 13.”
When Mr Pita failed to muster enough votes, they tried to renominate him on July 19.
Mr Sonthiya said the actions of these lawmakers were in violation of Section 160(6) of the charter involving the qualifications of a minister, and he wanted the Ombudsman to ask the court to make a ruling.