Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday urged all MPs to maintain their parliamentary responsibilities, especially now that a large number have resigned in preparation for the next general election.
"I've already instructed all coalition parties to ensure their MPs attend House meetings regularly … but as it turned out [meeting after meeting was adjourned due to] a lack of quorum again," he said.
It is the responsibility of all parties and MPs to fulfil their duties, he said.
Asked about his political future, Gen Prayut said: "When the time comes, if I win [the election], of course I will be happy. But if I lose, I will feel sad that I won't be able to work to make people happy anymore."
However, when asked yet again if he had already made his mind up as to which party banner he would run under in the coming race, the PM raised his voice and said somewhat cryptically: "I'm still here until now. Don't you understand?"
He avoided answering more questions when asked to clarify his remarks regarding his political future, yet again reiterating that he would speak about this when he felt the time was right.
House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, meanwhile, said it was business as usual at the House of Representatives despite the large number of MPs recently having resigned. He said the House still has a sufficient quorum to deliberate and pass the 20 or so important draft laws pending.
There are now 250 MPs on the government bench and 192 on the opposition bench, for a total of 442. The quorum required for a House meeting is 221.
Mr Chuan said the wave of resignations was not unusual, as a similar situation occurred during the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh administration, which was able to continue functioning.
Chinnaworn Bunyakiat, a Democrat Party MP and deputy chief government whip, said 20 bills that have been vetted by House committees for two years and each cost more than 2 million baht deserve to be passed by the current House.
The government whip is working hard to coordinate the meetings required for further deliberation of these draft laws, he said. Among them are the bill on cannabis and hemp, a bill on civil partnerships, and another amending the Civil and Commercial Code, he said.
According to an informed source, between Oct 6 and this Wednesday, 36 MPs have resigned, 12 of whom were MPs of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, eight were MPs of the main opposition Pheu Thai Party, and eight were Move Forward Party MPs.
Another two Thai were Economic Party MPs.