Opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpranyawut said today that he agrees to remove the name of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra from his censure debate motion, as requested by the House Speaker.
The move allows the censure debate against Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to proceed, tentatively on March 24, following a deadlock between the government and opposition, which has dragged on for weeks.
Last week, House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha returned the original no-confidence motion to Natthaphong, requesting that Thaksin’s name be removed before resubmission, as its inclusion violates meeting rules.
Wan Muhamad said that, if the opposition did not comply, he might not include the motion in the parliamentary agenda, which would have meant that the prime minister would not have faced her first censure debate.
Natthaphong, leader of the People’s party, had initially insisted on mentioning Thaksin in the motion, claiming that the naming of an outsider had been done before.
Natthaphong declared the change in position in parliament today and asked Wan Muhamad to promise that he would be neutral when presiding over the debate.
The House Speaker said he will be neutral and do everything by the book.
