Two of the nine microparties with one MP each have announced they will pull out of the coalition and independently serve as “people’s MPs” in Parliament.
Mongkolkit Suksintaranont, leader of the Thai Civilized Party, said on Saturday he and Pichet Sathirachawal, leader of Prachatham Thai, another microparty, had agreed to serve as people’s MPs, meaning they would not side with either the government or the opposition but will vote at their own discretion case by case.
“We also agree not to accept any political positions to be allocated by Palang Pracharath,” he added, referring to the core party of the coalition.
“When we joined the coalition, we thought the cooperation should be based on sincerity. But we have faced problems performing our duties as MPs from the start.”
He claimed the small parties were sidelined and given little time to debate in Parliament.
“Our urgent motions were screened by the big party and we couldn’t discuss policies with the government.”
Mr Mongkolkit pledged he would not go back on his words, apparently in response to the criticism he had done it before. During his vote campaigns, he told voters he would not support the continuation of power by the regime but joined the government later.
“Being people’s MPs means we’ll vote independently, not that we’ll join the seven opposition parties.
“We stand ready to support the government on good policies and will oppose it if we think they are wrong.”
He added with them gone, the government need not worry about its stability.
“If it works well and honestly and has done nothing wrong, we’re willing to vote in its favour.”
If the two MPs withdrew from the coalition, the government will have 252 votes against 246 of the Opposition.
