Chuan sets budget bill meeting for Thursday

Chuan sets budget bill meeting for Thursday

House Speaker hopes charter court-ordered votes can take place within a single day

MPs discuss the budget bill during the earlier debate on Jan 8 in the House of Representatives. They will have to come back to vote again after proxy voting nullified the second and third readings. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
MPs discuss the budget bill during the earlier debate on Jan 8 in the House of Representatives. They will have to come back to vote again after proxy voting nullified the second and third readings. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

Speaker Chuan Leekpai has called for a special session of the House of Representatives next Thursday to repeat the last two readings of the 2020 budget bill to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling.

It is hoped that the second and third readings can be passed within one day but more time could be set aside if needed, House secretary-general Sorasak Pienvej said on Friday in announcing Mr Chuan’s decision.

“If the special session cannot be concluded in one day, it is subject to expansion until the entire bill passes the House,” Mr Sorasak said.

The third reading of the budget bill was passed on Jan 11 with 253 MPs voting in favour, none against and 196 abstentions by opposition members. However, it was learned later that the votes of some MPs had been cast electronically even though they were not physically present, resulting in the bill being referred to the Constitutional Court.

Mr Chuan chose Thursday for a fresh attempt after consulting opposition leader Sompong Amornvivat of the Pheu Thai Party. The speaker’s personal preference was for Wednesday but Mr Sompong said MPs would be occupied with a meeting on a proposed committee to study measures to prevent future coups.

The charter court ruled on Friday that the budget was partially constitutional but ordered MPs to vote again on the second and third readings to correct the proxy-voting error.

The budget bill will also need to go to the Senate again after it passes the lower house, but passage in the upper house will be a formality.

The 2020 fiscal year began on Oct 1, 2019. It had been feared that any further delays to the passage of the budget could sharply curtail government spending at a critical time when the prospects of a severe economic slowdown are rising.

The current session of Parliament is scheduled to adjourn on Feb 29.

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