By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE PEOPLE’S TODAY (Sep. 1) dared the Pheu Thai-attached caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai to dissolve the House of Representatives now in order to call a general election without unnecessarily waiting for a decision of the largest opposition party to pick any partisan candidate for prime minister.
People’s spokesperson/MP Parit Wacharasindhu advised Phumtham, who is currently acting as head of the caretaker government led by de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra, may dissolve the House at any time from now instead of unnecessarily waiting for the People’s resolution for their 143 MPs to cast yea vote for either Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul or Pheu Thai MP Chaikasem Nitisiri for prime minister to replace Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra after she has been ousted by the Constitutional Court as elected prime minister for her severely unethical conduct pertaining to last June’s leaked cellphone conversation between senior Cambodian leader Hun Sen and herself.
Parit reconfirmed at the People’s headquarters during a marathon meeting of MPs and executive board members that the reformist party has invariably called for House dissolution since the date on which Paetongtarn’s disreputable chitchat was exposed to the public which, he said, evidently signified failure of the woman prime minister to run the country in transparent, creditable and competent manner.
Parit was responding to comments made hours earlier today by Pheu Thai figures that the caretaker prime minister, largely viewed as a right-hand man for Thaksin, would probably dissolve the House if the People’s failed to choose either to vote for Anutin or Chaikasem for prime minister during a special House meeting scheduled between the upcoming Wednesday and Friday.
The People’s have ultimately offered to support the partisan candidate from either the Bhumjaithai or Pheu Thai for prime minister on condition that the new head of government dissolve the House and return power to the people by way of a nationwide election for MPs in four months after the new government’s policy statement has been declared at parliament and hold a public referendum for the people nationwide to decide whether the military-designed constitution of 2017 should be amended as a whole by an elected Constitution Amendment Committee.
Remarkably, the People’s will definitely not join the new coalition government or take any ministerial seat in their cabinet and will only remain as the largest opposition party until the House has been dissolved as supposedly obliged by either the Bhumjaithai under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob or the Thaksin-steered Pheu Thai as the largest ruling party.
The People’s MPs have practically become a decisive force behind the successful naming of a new prime minister, given the fact that neither Newin’s camp nor Thaksin’s camp could muster solid support from a simple majority of MPs, currently accounting for 248, without the help from the 143 reformist lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Phumtham said the People’s might be inclined to pick the Bhumjaithai leader rather than the Pheu Thai contestant for prime minister and implied that he himself has the “legitimate” power to dissolve the House.
But deputy People’s spokesperson/MP Pakamon Noon-anan confirmed that all People’s MPs will definitely not opt out by abstaining from voting for either candidate as speculated by some of the Pheu Thai rank and file.
She suggested that Phumtham should feel free to dissolve the House at any time, regardless of the People’s decision to pick either the Bhumjaithai or Pheu Thai contestant for prime minister.
Nevertheless, a fresh lawsuit will likely be filed to the Constitutional Court to judge whether the caretaker prime minister could legally dissolve the House. If found guilty of doing so, he could possibly be forced to pay for expenses on the nationwide election calculated to amount up to six billion baht.
According to government critics, the de facto Pheu Thai boss was undoubtedly scrambling to keep his party in power rather than to have the House dissolved by his entrusted protege Phumtham, given an exponentially ebbing popularity of his neo-conservative camp due to his daughter’s fiasco whilst erroneously handling Thai-Cambodian border conflict which led to five-day clashes between Thai and Cambodian armed forces along the disputed border, resulting in many fatalities and injuries on both sides.
That the Pheu Thai caretaker prime minister could possibly dissolve the House if the People’s eventually decided to support Anutin in lieu of Chaikasem for prime minister, automatically kicking Thaksin’s camp into the opposition bloc was merely a last-ditch hustle on the part of the de facto Pheu Thai boss who had allegedly manipulated a double-crossing plot by leaving the reformist camp for “Uncles’ Camps”, nicknames of the Palang Pracharath and Ruam Thai Sang Chart, and conjuring a surprise coalition government following the 2023 election, according to government critic Thanaporn Sriyakul.
He said dozens of Pheu Thai MPs specifically those representing northeastern constituencies will likely leave Thaksin’s camp for others to seek reelection in the next race to parliament otherwise, he said, they will be largely defeated due to Paetongtarn’s shambles over the Thai-Cambodian issue.
CAPTIONS:
Top and Front Page: Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. Photos: Thai Rath
First insert: People’s spokesperson/MP Parit Wacharasindhu. Photo: Amarin TV
Second insert: Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul. Photo: Amarin TV
Also read: People’s bound to choose between Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai for naming of new PM
Bhumjaithai tipped to outdo Pheu Thai in setting up new coalition govt
Paetongtarn ousted as PM by Constitutional Court over unethical, dishonest deal with Hun Sen
People’s offer conditional vote for new PM
Chaikasem ready to follow party’s decision
Attorney-General weighing whether to send Thaksin’s lese majeste case to Appellate Court
Lom Sak city paralysed by flooding, disaster likely to worsen
Several bomb blasts in Far South to mark anniversary
Chiang Mai geese appointed full-time employees
