Move Forward Secretary-General Chaithawat Tulathon is scheduled to have a meeting with House speaker, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, today (Friday) to discuss the possibility of allowing sufficient time for the party’s leader and prime ministerial candidate to present his vision speech and to allow MPs and senators to question him about the party’s more controversial policies.
Chaithawat said today that this proposed process, at the first joint sitting of parliament to select the prime minister, scheduled on July 13th, will help clear up any misunderstanding or misconception among parliamentarians over the party’s policies before they vote.
Many senators and MPs are against the party’s publicly-announced policy to amend the lèse majesté law and have vowed to vote against or abstain from voting for his candidacy.
Chaithawat said he hopes Pita will be selected in the first sitting, adding that he is confident that most senators want to give a chance for the country to move forward.
He admitted, however, that he does not know how the senators will vote, because most of them have remained tight-lipped on the matter.
Regarding the lèse majesté issue, which is the main concern of most senators, Chaithawat, Pita and the other core members of the party will try to explain the party’s position publicly, hoping that their clarifications will be conveyed to the senators by the media.
The Move Forward secretary-general said it is not unusual for other parties to nominate their prime ministerial candidates as well, adding that it is not, however, the right time to talk about a candidate from the Pheu Thai party.
