The parliament voted 300:287 last night in favour of the parliamentary scrutiny committee considering the People's party’s constitutional amendments draft bill, in preference to the draft submitted by the Bhumjaithai party.
Earlier yesterday, parliament voted to pass both drafts in their first readings, but rejected the one proposed by the Pheu Thai party.
In their first readings, the People's party’s bill received 568 votes, including 108 from senators, with ten objections and 74 abstentions.
The Bhumjaithai party’s draft bill received 629 votes, including 167 from senators, while the Pheu Thai party’s draft bill 561 votes, including 60 votes from senators, and was dropped because the senator’s votes fell short of a minimum of one-third of senators required for a bill to pass its first reading.
After passing their first readings, parliament set up a 43-member panel to scrutinise the two surviving drafts. The panel is comprised of 12 senators and 31 MPs from the People's party, Pheu Thai, Bhumjaithai, Thai Sang Thai, Kla Tham, Democrat, Palang Pracharath, Chart Thai Pattana and Prachachart parties.Last night, parliament voted to use the People’s party’s version as the main draft for consideration during the scrutiny period.
Speaking at a press conference after the session, Chusak Sirinil, a party-list MP and legal chief of Pheu Thai, expressed disappointment over the rejection of the party’s proposed constitutional amendment during the first reading in Parliament.
Chusak argued that Pheu Thai’s version was the most neutral and inclusive of all the proposals, as it allowed broad participation in the formation of a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA).
He stressed that the draft fully complied with the Constitutional Court’s rulings and the legal framework outlined in Section 256.
“We did everything by the book,” Chusak said. “This was a politically motivated rejection. We didn’t make any backroom deals like the other parties did.”
Despite the setback, Pheu Thai announced it would support the People’s Party draft going forward, as its principles align closely with their own—particularly in emphasizing public participation in constitutional reform.
The party confirmed it would send representatives to join the parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the new charter proposal.
The bill is aimed at amending the existing the charter, to pave way for the crafting of a new Constitution.
Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha called for cooperation between MPs and senators by expediting the scrutiny process and the crafting of a new charter by December 20th, the timeline tentatively set by Deputy Prime Minister Borwornsak Uwanno for the passage of the new charter.
The parliamentary meeting adjourned at about 8pm last night.
