The House of Representatives is scheduled to meet today (Monday) to select the House speaker and two deputy speakers. The procedure is as follows:
- The most senior MP, Pheu Thai party-list MP Pol Lt-Gen Viroj Paoin, will act as the interim House speaker to open the meeting and to preside over the selection of the House speaker and two deputies.
- Each MP is entitled to nominate an MP to be the House speaker and the nomination must be seconded by at least 20 other MPs.
- The candidate or candidates will be required to present their vision for the House speakership.
- In case only one candidate is nominated, they will be selected automatically. If more than one candidate is nominated, it will be decided by a secret vote and the chair of the meeting will announce the successful candidate.
The secret voting process is as follows:
- A vote counting committee will be selected first.
- 20 MPs at a time will enter the polling booth in alphabetical order. Their names are not announced.
- Each MP will write down their choice of candidate on a piece of paper, place it in an envelope and drop it into a transparent ballot box.
- During the vote counting, the results are shown on the monitor in real time.
- The candidate who receives the most votes will be declared the House speaker.
- All the ballots are destroyed.
- The same process is applied to the selection of the two deputy speakers, with the first deputy speaker to be selected, followed by the second deputy speaker.
After the completion of the selection process, the secretary-general of the House of Representatives will notify Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha about the selection of the House speaker and two deputies so he can seek a Royal Command from His Majesty the King for their official appointments.
The Royal Command will be submitted by the House secretary-general to the Senate for acknowledgement.
