Future Forward Party executives and MPs have voted unanimously to expel four renegade MPs after 250 party members voted to sack them on Monday.
At their joint meeting on Tuesday, the party's executives and MPs affirmed the decision made on the previous day by the party members, who voted 250-5 to let them go.
The four are MP for Chiang Mai Srinuan Boonlue, MP for Chon Buri Kawinnart Takee and two MPs representing Chanthaburi province, Charuek Sri-on and Pol Lt Col Thanapat Kittiwongsa.
They will have 30 days to find a new home or lose their MP status in which case by-elections will be held to find their substitutes.
A vote to expel an MP constitutionally requires not less than three-fourths.
The four MPs voted at least twice against the stances of the party and the opposition whip despite warnings and probation, said party spokesperson Pannika Wanich.
"Before each [parliamentary] vote, our MPs meet, discuss and reach decisions together. Some MPs reserve the right [to vote differently] on certain issues. For instance, some MPs with religious reservations may not feel comfortable voting for the setup of an LGBT House committee. That's fine with us," she explained.
When it first happened, the party set up a disciplinary panel and they were given probation, she said. "When they did it again, we had to apply more serious measures leading to their expulsion"
New home
In an almost hung parliament, all eyes are on which parties the four MPs would join.
Ms Srinuan, who had the most votes among all MPs, said she felt relieved and grateful for her newfound freedom.
"I haven't been contacted by any party," she said, adding the Bhumjaithai Party was one of her choices.
While being FFP MP, Ms Srinuan went to meet Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul at Government House for 30 minutes. She explained later she asked Mr Anutin for a budget for new hospitals in Chiang Mai.
Mr Charuek of Chanthaburi said he would join a small party, not a big one or "people will think I eat bananas or am a cobra," he said.
He was referring to a comment by a deputy minister of the lead coalition party who compared himself to a monkey keeper who had to keep feeding bananas to small parties to keep them in line.
"The party [he will join] was registered but has no MP. Pol Lt Col Thanapat may join me," he added.
Parties: 'Let's see'
Meanwhile, Mr Anutin declined to comment whether his party would accept any of them, saying he needed time to check laws and regulations first.
Varawut Silpa-archa, chief strategist of Charthaipattana, said his party would meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss the possibility.
Buddhipongse Punnakanta of the coalition leader Palang Pracharath Party said PPRP was open to people ready to work with it.
He also dismissed rumours of cobras, saying there was none. "Everyone has the privilege."
Deputy Prime Minister declined to comment.
Your loss, our gain
While the coalition parties welcome more House votes to enhance their stability, what stops them from embracing the four MPs with open arms is the possibility they may have to sacrifice their own party-list MPs to make room. The number of MPs they may have is closely linked to their total votes and it remains uncertain what happened to the votes of these four MPs.
Mrs Pannika of FFP said the EC had yet to interpret what to do with their 160,000 votes in total.
"The EC may decide the votes still belong to FFP. In this case, we still have 6.2 million votes and are entitled to 81 MPs. Since we now have 76 MPs, we will move up people on our party list to fill the quota at the expense of the list MPs of other parties [who take them].
"But if the EC decides the MPs leave with their votes, we still have a quota of 78 and we lose two," she said.
Her hopes were later dashed by Udom Rat-amarit, a former writer of the 2017 constitution.
Mr Udom said when expelling the four MPs, FFP could not ask for a recalculation of its list quota because it fired them of its own will.
"A party-list recalculation of MPs only happens when there is election fraud within one year. It doesn't matter how many votes the four MPs have," he said.
If the EC agrees with Mr Udom, FFP will be left with 76 MPs after the expulsion.