The House of Representatives passed with 319 votes, plus 6 more votes from Thai Sang Thai, pushing ‘Ung Ing’ to become the 31st Prime Minister of Thailand, the youngest ever. Pheu Thai MPs applauded and congratulated.
Reporters reported that the special meeting of the House of Representatives (1st Ordinary Session) with Mr. Wan Muhammad Noor Matha, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, acting as the chairman of the meeting, considered and approved the person who should be appointed as the Prime Minister according to Article 159 of the Constitution. Mr. Wan Muhammad explained the various steps, including the voting for the Prime Minister by calling the names of each person in order of the list of MPs to vote.
Then at 10.11 am, Mr. Surawong Thienthong, MP for Sa Kaeo and Secretary-General of the Pheu Thai Party, stood up to propose the name of Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, as a prime ministerial candidate from the Pheu Thai Party to approve the person who should be appoin
ted as prime minister according to Article 159 of the Constitution, with a duly certified person. Ms. Paethongtarn, the prime ministerial candidate from the Pheu Thai Party, was the only one nominated. No other party nominated a prime ministerial candidate.
But Mr. Pakornwut Udompipatsakul, MP for the Prachachon Party and chairman of the opposition party coordination committee (opposition whip), stood up to propose a debate on the nominees for the prime ministerial position. However, the government, especially the Pheu Thai Party, disagreed and a vote should be held immediately because it did not follow the agenda. For example, Mr. Adisorn Piangket, MP for the Pheu Thai Party, believed that the nominees were not in the meeting. Therefore, the prime ministerial selection process should be completed until the policy statement is submitted to the parliament, and then the opportunity should be used to discuss the qualifications.
Then, the members were allowed to debate, with Mr. Thakorn standing up to debate fi
rst, saying that the past events, bad luck, we are losing a prime minister who must leave the position. I would like to inform you that today our politics are in a state called a dead end of the country. Therefore, an urgent agenda is proposed to select a prime minister to continue to govern the country. Today’s parliament is the first time in 10 years that the parliament will have the right to use the power to select a prime minister by itself, without going through the Senate. We have reached a low point in the economy. Today, another mountain, a political mountain, has overlapped until the people can endure the country’s economic situation. This is what is being demanded from the prime minister. What will be done to solve the problems of the people who are in a weak state?
Mr. Nattapong Ruangpanyawut, MP, party-list, leader of the Prachachon Party, debated that he did not agree with the legal war process carried out by the elite group. No matter how the MPs vote, the mission of the parliament and the next
prime minister is to solve the country’s problems at the root. If we only count the party dissolution cases, there have been many. Many people have been victims of political decisions that give excessive power to the Constitutional Court. Therefore, the power and duty of the Constitutional Court must be placed on it, not to overstep the legislative branch. I believe that everyone sees the same problem, that many people should not be executed politically. Ethical standards should be conditions, rules that we examine ourselves. It is not a rule that allows the judiciary to make a decision using legal measures. The ethical standards are something that each person sees differently. The people’s voice must be used to make a decision. The past 7 years that this constitution has been in effect have not been able to solve the problem. On the worse, it has been used as a tool for harassment by the elite group to destroy the MPs who have received the highest power from the people. The big issue is to create stability f
or the country and prevent a political vacuum. The important mission of the MPs is to invite them to continue their missions, amend the constitution and the Organic Act to amend the power of the Constitutional Court, independent organizations, in accordance with international principles, adjust the rules of political parties to make them easy to form and hard to die, and create a good environment for democracy. The people’s party’s vote will not approve the prime minister selection because they must reserve their differences and seek common ground.
The meeting then voted on individual issues and voted in favor with 319 votes to 145, with 27 abstentions,
which is considered to be more than half of the votes in favor of Ms. Paethongtarn as the 31st Prime Minister according to Article 159 of the Constitution, with MPs from the Pheu Thai Party standing up to applaud and congratulate Ms. Paethongtarn. The meeting chairman then ordered the meeting to close at 12:35 p.m. The voting process took more than 2 hours.
R
eporters reported that during the vote counting, Pol. Lt. Col. Chalerm Yubamrung, a party-list MP, did not call his name. When calling to ask a close person, he said that he was sick and had already asked to leave the meeting. Meanwhile, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, a party-list MP and leader of the Pracharat Party, did not vote because he was busy welcoming the Olympic athletes.
While the Thai Sang Thai Party’s six MPs, Mr. Chatchawan Paetthai, MP for Roi Et, Ms. Ramphun Tantiwanitchanon, MP for Ubon Ratchathani, and Mr. Thakorn Tanthasit, MP for the party list, Ms. Supaporn Salapsri, MP for Yasothon, Mr. Rang Thuraphon, MP for Udon Thani, and Mr. Adisak Kaewmungkunthap, MP for Udon Thani, voted in favor, contrary to the opposition parties who voted against and abstained from voting as a whole. The Prachachon Party voted against, while the Democrat Party abstained.
Source: Thai News Agency