The Move Forward Party will await the Constitutional Court ruling on the qualifications of party leader Pita Limjaroenrat before deciding whether to take on the role of leader of the opposition.
MFP secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon said on Tuesday he had consulted House Speaker Wan Muhamad Nor Matha on the post of opposition leader during an informal meeting on Monday. They shared the view that, even with the current stand-off, the role would not automatically fall to the second largest party in the opposition bloc.
The second largest is the Democrat Party, but he did not mention its name. MFP is the largest.
His remarks came after Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary-general of the Progressive Movement (PM), posted on his Facebook on Monday that nobody had so far qualified to take on the role of leader of the opposition.
Mr Piyabutr, an academic specialising in law, co-founded the Future Forward Party, which was dissolved over an illegal loan. He subsequently co-founded the MFP.
He said the MFP would await the ruling by the Constitutional Court on whether Mr Pita was qualified to hold a political position, which centres on his shareholding in defunct media company iTV Plc.
The court procedures would not take a lot of time, maybe two or three months, Mr Chaithawat said.
On July 19, the court suspended the MFP leader and prime ministerial candidate from duty as an MP. At the time, parliamentarians were disputing House regulations relating to the legality of his renomination for prime minister. He was rejected the first time.
The court announced his suspension after accepting for consideration a complaint involving Mr Pita's inherited shareholding in iTV Plc.
The Election Commission had recommended to the court that Mr Pita be stripped of his MP status over his shareholding in a media organisation. The poll body also asked the court to suspend him from duty as an MP pending its decision.
Mr Pita, 43, whose party won the May 14 general election with 151 House seats, failed in his initial bid on July 13 to become prime minister. He was unable to secure the required support of more than half of the members of the two chambers of parliament. Most of the military-appointed senators voted against him or abstained.
Last month, the House speaker said the MFP needed to make it official that its leader Mr Pita intended to waive the party's right to take the post of leader of the opposition.
Mr Nor’s remark came after Mr Pita said during an interview that neither he nor the MFP wanted the opposition leader's position.
The MFP would rather its MP for Phitsanulok Padipat Suntiphada remain in the position of deputy speaker of the House.
Mr Chaithawat said the MFP had called a meeting of its party MPs on Tuesday to prepare for the debate on the new government’s policies, which will be delivered to parliament on Wednesday.
On the assigning of MPs to House committees, the MFP secretary-general said the allocation of two major seats in two panels the party wanted was still not finalised. They were the House committee scrutinising and following-up on the budget, and the House committee on prevention of corruption and misconduct.
He said there was still a problem with membership of the committee against corruption and misconduct.
“Negotiations are continuing. Details are not yet available,’’ Mr Chaithawat said in reply to reporters' questions.