The Pheu Thai Party has questioned the status of 250 senators after finding an order naming the panel appointing them was not published in the <i>Royal Gazette</i>.
Party spokeswoman Ladawan Wongsriwong said on Tuesday she and the spokespersons of six other parties in the anti-regime alliance jointly submitted a petition to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which is constitutionally responsible for appointing the senators.
This was the second time they asked the junta to disclose who appointed the 250 senators and how much they spent on the process.The first request received no response.
Mrs Ladawan said something unusual happened to the Royal Gazette. Normally, official documents the public are supposed to know are published in the Royal Gazette, categorised by type and named in the format "running number/B.E". For example, the first NCPO order of 2019 should be No.1/2562.
However, the first NCPO order of the year shown in the Royal Gazette turned out to be No.3/2562, suggesting two previous orders were missing or not published. One of them was the NCPO Order No.1/2562 on the appointment of the Senate selection committee as referred to earlier by ombudsmen.
"This meant that the selection panel, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, who came under a barrage of criticism for lacking political neutrality and nepotism, would have no legal effect and the selection process would be declared unconstitutional. Therefore, the 250 hand-picked senators may be invalidated," she said.
More importantly, effectively all of the senators overwhelmingly voted for NCPO leader Prayut Chan-o-cha to be prime minister. She cast doubt whether the Senate’s vote for Gen Prayut was lawful.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam had kept saying the names of the panellists would be disclosed but that did not happen, Mrs Ladawan said. Besides, the names of 50 people on the senators’ reserve list were not made public, she added.
"It’s really depressing Thailand had the unusual general election on March 24 that drew criticism worldwide. Worse still, the order appointing the Senate selection committee was not published in the Royal Gazette. This may result in the nullification of the voting to choose the prime minister. This issue should be urgently deliberated at a House meeting because it’s a national problem that may cause serious damage.
“The House speaker should revoke a previous order scrapping House meetings. Instead, an urgent meeting should be called on June 12-13 to find a way out for the country. Talks on the forming of a coalition government should be put on hold pending the results of the House meeting,’’ said Mrs Ladawan.
Meanwhile, Mr Wissanu insisted the appointment of the senators was valid.
The deputy prime minister said the Constitution and organic laws did not stipulate that the names of the Senate selection committee must be disclosed. Section 269 of the charter only mentions a selection panel must be set up.
The NCPO opted not to disclose the names of the selection panel from the beginning for fear of lobbying, said the government’s legal expert.
The NCPO would soon disclose the names of the selection panel as there was nothing to hide, said Mr Wissanu.
On the list of the 50 people on the Senates’ reserve list, he said he had already submitted the list to the Senate speaker. It was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday evening.
Senate speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said the disclosure of the selection panel would have no impact on the Senate, which had already been royally endorsed.
Pheu Thai Party spokeswoman Ladawan Wongsriwong gives a media interview after submitting a petition to the Election Commisssion on April 23, calling for the scrapping of the Senate selection panel which she says is unconstitutional. (Bangkok Post file photo)