National Legislative Assembly (NLA) members from the armed forces and retired officers will be free to vote on former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and two others facing impeachment, Supreme Commander Worapong Sanganet said on Sunday.
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra talks to the press before defending charges on the rice-pledging scheme at the National Legislative Assembly on Jan 9, 2015. The NLA set Jan 23 for impeachment voting. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
Gen Worapong pledged no intervention from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on impeachment voting on the three cases set for Friday.
He said at a ceremony to mark Armed Forces Day that there would be no direction from the council to dictate the votes for NLA members under its alliances. It would be their decision to vote for or against the impeachment.
The NLA needs 132 out of 220 votes to impeach Ms Yingluck, former House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranon and ex-Senate speaker Nikhom Wairatpanich. The three will be banned from politics for five years if they are impeached in the three individual votes.
Some 100 NLA members are former and present military officers. All NLA members were handpicked by the NCPO.
Mr Somsak and Mr Nikhom are accused by the National Anti-Corruption Commission of malfeasance in office, abuse of power and gross violation of ethical conduct in accordance with sections 270 and 291 of the 2007 constitution.
The charges follow a petition filed by former lawmakers seeking the impeachment of the pair, arguing they illegally exercised their power by cutting short a parliamentary debate on a charter amendment that would make the Senate fully elected in 2013.
The former prime minister is accused by the graft buster of failing to stamp out irregularities in the rice-pledging scheme despite warnings about corruption and possible massive losses.
The three have denied the allegations against them.
Pheu Thai members have warned of a setback in efforts to reconcile the country, especially if the former prime minister is impeached.
But Gen Worapong hoped that the voting results would be respected by the Yingluck camp and called for her supporters to continue cooperating with the government to restore stability.
Any problems arising after the voting would be resolved by existing mechanisms, the army commander added.