The House of Representatives now expects to hold a joint sitting with the Senate by mid-December to begin deliberating a bill partially amending the 2017 constitution under an agreement previously reached by the government and opposition whips, according to an MP.
Both whips had agreed that the schedule for the deliberation would be too tight if it were to begin in the almost finished parliamentary session, so they opted to wait until the next session begins, said Nattawut Buaprathum, a People's Party list-MP, speaking in his capacity as the opposition whip chief.
Dec 16-18 will be the ideal period to hold the joint sitting of parliament for this purpose, he said, informing House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha at yesterday's meeting of the Lower House, citing the outcome of recent talks between him and Visuth Chainaroon, the chief government whip.
Mr Wan responded by saying he would have to discuss with Senate Speaker Mongkol Surasajja about the requested time frame and will later call a meeting of the government, opposition and Senate whips to finalise the time frame for the joint sitting once again.
In another development, Senator Pisit Apiwattanapong, the Senate chief whip, said that the Upper House will on Monday select 14 senators to sit on the joint parliamentarian committee to mediate the difference in opinions between the two Houses on the charter referendum bill.
Passed by the House of Representatives already, the bill was later amended by the Senate to retain the double majority rule for a new referendum on the government's charter rewrite proposal.
In case the joint committee ends up being unable to reach any agreement, the bill will then have to be shelved for 180 days before the Lower House will be the one to have the final say on it and have it promulgated, said Sen Pisit.
The double majority rule refers to at least half of all eligible voters having to cast their votes, and the winning outcome must be supported by at least half of the voters who turn up at polling booths.
