The Pheu Thai Party has resolved to seek the post of House speaker and asked its negotiating team to discuss the issue with the coalition-leading Move Forward Party on Wednesday, according to a party source.
Pheu Thai MPs met on Tuesday to finalise the party’s stance on the issue. Before the meeting, leader Cholnan Srikaew briefed them on the party executives’ resolution. All reporters were then told to leave the meeting room as the party wanted to keep its discussions private.
Pheu Thai list-MP Suchart Tancharoen, who is expected to be nominated to contest the House speaker post, also attended the meeting. Mr Suchart, 65, a former Palang Pracharath MP, was a deputy speaker in the last House. He defected to Pheu Thai in March.
Dr Cholnan told the meeting that the eight coalition parties still had a common goal to support Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat as the country’s 30th prime minister, the source said.
As for the post of House speaker, Pheu Thai saw it necessary to discuss the issue among its executives and then among its MPs. Tuesday’s meeting was intended to give a mandate to the party negotiating team to make its position clear to their Move Forward counterparts.
Each party has been adamant that the speaker should come from its ranks, but they need to settle their differences before the opening of parliament on July 3. The date was confirmed by an announcement published on Saturday on the Royal Gazette website. The vote to choose the speaker will take place the following day.
Some local media reports say Pheu Thai has three people in mind to propose for the speaker’s job, including Mr Suchart. Move Forward also is said to have three names on its shortlist.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting of party executives, Dr Cholnan declined to name any of the people being considered, pending a final party resolution.
He acknowledged that Pheu Thai MPs and members wanted the party to get the post of speaker. However, the negotiating team also had another proposal that needed to be discussed with Move Forward on Wednesday. He declined to elaborate.
It had been reported earlier that Pheu Thai was open to letting Move Forward have the speaker’s position as long as the runner-up party was given both deputies’ posts. However, Pheu Thai later denied that any such accommodation had been reached.
Move Forward has been firm in its insistence on taking the two top positions — the head of the executive branch and the head of the legislative branch — in order to steer its ambitious legislative programme through the House.
But because the two parties are so close in terms of numbers — Move Forward has 151 MPs and Pheu Thai 141 — the latter’s MPs believe their party deserves the speakership.