As many as 80 opposition MPs will line up to debate government policies and the qualifications of cabinet ministers in parliament on Thursday, Suthin Khlangsaeng, an opposition whip said yesterday.
The new government will spell out its policy statement a two-day parliamentary session starting Thursday. The opposition will be given 13.5 hours to debate the policies.
Mr Suthin, a Pheu Thai MP for Maha Sarakham, said that up to 80 MPs on the opposition benches have asked to debate the policies. They will tomorrow discuss how to allot time among them to fit in with the policy debate timeframe. Some 14 cabinet ministers will also be grilled over their qualifications, Mr Suthin said.
He added that if any cabinet ministers cannot clear doubts regarding their qualifications, opposition MPs will send petitions through the House Speaker to the Constitutional Court to rule on the matter.
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) will meet today to prepare for the policy statement in parliament. The meeting will be held in Nakhon Ratchasima's Wang Nam Khieo district.
Party MPs will be briefed on a set of 12 urgent government policies which will be implemented in the government's first year in office, as well as long-term policies which will be carried out over the next four years, Mr Sontirat said. The top priority is bread-and-butter issues, he added.
Asked if the party will marshal its MPs to defend Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who will be the primary target of the opposition, Mr Sontirat said the debate will follow normal parliamentary mechanisms. Government MPs would explain the polices and ensure the policy statement session proceeds smoothly, Mr Sontirat said.
PPRP deputy spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said the opposition should focus on the policies, rather than controversies, surrounding the qualifications of cabinet ministers. He said that their qualifications, especially those of the prime minister, had already been clarified.
The government will be subject to fierce scrutiny from the opposition, whose priority is to seek a review of Gen Prayut's eligibility. Constitutional Court judges on Friday accepted a petition from opposition MPs to rule on Gen Prayut's qualifications. The MPs want the court to rule on whether Gen Prayut's status as premier should be terminated because as chief of the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) he was a state official and thus not eligible to put himself forward.