The ruling Pheu Thai Party must honour its promises to improve transparency and efficiency in parliament, pass a new political amnesty bill, and expedite reforms of the armed forces, says Move Forward Party (MFP) chief adviser Pita Limjaroenrat.
Mr Pita said these promises were declared in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that the MFP and Pheu Thai signed when they agreed to allocate the House Speaker and Deputy House Speaker posts prior to the formation of the coalition government.
He made the remarks at a meeting organised on Wednesday, the first day of the new parliamentary session. They were directed at Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, the cabinet and other parties that have acknowledged the MoU.
House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, a former Prachachat Party leader, was nominated for his current role to end an impasse between Pheu Thai and the MFP when the eight prospective coalition parties led by the MFP were trying in vain to form a government last year.
Under the deal, Padipat Suntiphada, who at the time was an MFP MP for Phitsanulok province being nominated by the party for the House speaker role, was instead made its first deputy speaker.
Mr Padipat was later kicked out of the MFP, in what was seen as a political tactic to allow him to keep his deputy House speaker role while allowing the party to lead the opposition.
An opposition party is barred by law from having one of its members occupy a House speaker or deputy speaker post at the same time.
Also on Wednesday, MFP list-MP Nutthawut Buaprathum, speaking in his capacity as the opposition chief whip, consulted the House meeting about the possibility of allowing more than two House meetings per week.
He said frequent meetings were necessary in light of the high number of bills pending deliberation.