The economy and state investment worth hundreds of billions of baht will be affected by the delay to the 2020 budget bill caused by the controversy surrounding its validity, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha warned on Thursday.
"The problem centres on investment budgets that amount to hundreds of billions of baht. If the money is not spent, the economy will not improve much. Without the money, everyone will be in trouble. So there must be other measures to fix the problem," the prime minister said at Government House.
Gen Prayut said the delay in the passage of the 3.2-trillion-baht budget bill for fiscal year 2020 would disrupt budget disbursements. The Constitutional Court is expected to take some time to consider the controversy arising from a House vote on the bill.
Still, the premier rejected speculation the government would have to issue an executive decree to borrow money as a contingency measure to solve the problem, saying authorities did not think the solution was suitable at the moment.
Fears about risks to the economy have grown since 174 MPs -- 90 coalition MPs and 84 opposition MPs -- on Wednesday requested a Constitutional Court ruling on the validity of the 2020 budget bill, which was supposed to take effect from October last year.
The request for a court ruling, submitted through House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, stemmed from former Democrat Party MP Nipit Intarasombat's claim that two Bhumjaithai MPs cast votes in favour of the bill without being present in the House during the debate earlier this month. The Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties are members of the government coalition.
Chalong Therdwirapong, a Bhumjaithai MP for Phatthalung, admitted he was not in the House on Jan 10 for the vote on sections of the bill, as he was attending a funeral in Phatthalung. He said he left his electronic voting card in the House. However, his name appeared in the vote counts.
Mr Chuan said it was not known how long the court would take to consider the matter. The submission of the bill for royal endorsement has been put on hold pending the ruling.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said MPs voting on behalf of other MPs was a serious offence and also damaged the reputation of the House. However, he insisted that a delay in the budget bill's enactment would not cause serious harm and there was a solution to the problem.
In a related development, a leaked video clip appears to show a Palang Pracharath Party MP using an electronic voting card to vote on behalf of a fellow MP during the budget bill debate.
Prim Pooncharoen, a PPRP MP for Samut Prakan, admitted to being the MP in the clip and voting on behalf of Awirat Rattanaset, a PPRP MP for Nakhon Ratchasima during the bill's second reading. Ms Prim said she did so in line with Mr Awirat's intention.
Chaiwuth Thananukho, a PPRP list MP, said there are only 68 voting machines on the benches of the ruling party, which were not enough for its 117 MPs. He also said MPs voted on behalf of others to help each other with their work.
House secretary-general Sorasak Pienvej said that since construction of the MPs' chamber was not yet finished, lawmakers had to use the Senate's meeting room which has only 318 voting machines -- not enough for all 498 MPs. Hence, the MPs had to share the voting machines.