The opposition has decided remove the whip from the Kla Tham party after they defied the opposition whip resolution to abstain from voting in parliament in support of the government’s budget bill for the 2027 fiscal year.
Parit Wacharasindhu, chief opposition whip and deputy leader of the People’s Party, said in his Facebook post yesterday that, in a parliamentary system, it is understood that there are two camps - the government and the opposition - and that the opposition’s role is to serve as the check and balance mechanism for the government.
The opposition, which is composed of parties which, for whatever the reasons, decided not to join the government or were not invited to join the government, should understand and respect one another, even though they may differ on policies and political standpoints, said Parit.
He said that opposition parties should, however, share one thing in common, that is they should perform their duty in monitoring the government to prevent it from straying away from the public interest.
On September 10th, the Kla Tham party resolved to allow its MPs to vote in support of the government’s budget bill for the 2027 fiscal year, in defiance of the opposition whip resolution to vote against or abstain from the voting, said Parit.
He added that the Kla Tham party’s decision raised many questions over the intentions of the party in performing its role in opposition.
As the opposition chief whip, Parit said he had discussed the matter with representatives of Kla Tham party and had decided to remove the opposition whip.
Since the party has 58 MPs, however, he said that he will continue to coordinate and work with the Kla Tham party to protect their MPs’ lawful rights in parliament.
Parit also said that he will submit a new list of parties under the opposition whip to the president of the parliament. The opposition will now comprise the People’s, the Democrat, the Thai Pakdee, the Seri Ruam Thai and Thai Ruam Palang parties.
