By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER ANUTIN Charnvirakui today (Dec.11) dissolved the House of Representatives following a surprise about-face of Bhumjaithai-led lawmakers toward legislation on constitution amendment which has been consequently, automatically aborted after months of a wasteful, legislative tug-of-war. Now that the House has been dissolved by the head of the executive branch, a general election is tentatively scheduled for the second Sunday of the upcoming February.
The prime minister who concurrently leads the Bhumjaithai, core of the current coalition government under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, has been held accountable for today’s surprise phenomenon in which a majority of Bhumjaithai-led MPs and Bhumjaithai-influenced senators unexpectedly made a turnaround by endorsing a provisional clause to demand that a minimum of one-third of a total 200 senators, accounting for 67, give final approval among a majority of legislators in the House and Senate combined for legislation to amend the coup junta-designed constitution in its third or final reading which would be otherwise scheduled for Dec.26.
The House dissolution has practically preempted a censure motion which would be otherwise filed by the People’s, core of the opposition bloc, after the historic, Bhumjaithai-led about-face at parliament today.
That obviously contrasted a resolution of majority members of a joint House/Senate committee on constitution amendment to have a simple majority of legislators in the House and Senate combined, otherwise accounting for 351, give final approval for the final reading of the long-awaited charter amendment bill.
After hours of deliberating on the second reading of the constitution amendment bill in today’s joint House/Senate session, 329 MPs and senators led by those of the Bhumjaithai, the core of the current coalition government under de facto party boss Newin Chidchob, voted in support of the highly contentious, decisive power of the one-third of senators to literally have a final say to the charter amendment bill, compared to 302 others who voted against it.
Anutin has resolutely precluded relentless censure debate launched by the People’s which would be otherwise followed by votes of confidence and no-confidence. Given the circumstances under which the Bhumjaithai-led government is merely a minority one with less than 170 MPs on their side, compared to nearly 300 on the other side of the House chamber aisle, the prime minister would almost certainly be otherwise ousted of power by no-confidence votes.
The People’s would almost certainly have no trouble mustering flash, solid support for their censure motion against the prime minister, given 141 MPs currently under command of the reformist camp and the legislative rules which require a minimum of one-fifth of a total of the currently performing MPs, accounting for 99, to endorse it.
Given the House dissolution, which has automatically, totally nullified the constitution amendment bill and related legislative bids carried out over the last several months at parliament, a general election is legally obliged to take place in a 60-day period or probably around the second week of February.
Anutin has been earlier expected to dissolve the House to call a general election after the charter amendment bill has passed its final reading following a mandatory 15-day interval by Dec.26 or at a later date so that the nationwide race to parliament would be otherwise held around late February or early March.
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Top and Front Page – Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Photos – Amarin TV
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