National —
After failing to push their leader Pita Limjaroenrat to become the Prime Minister, the Move Forward Party is now planning to propose a bill to amend Article 272 of the charter, which grants the Senate authority to choose a prime minister.
Pita on Thursday received only 324 votes out of the 749 votes from the joint Parliament and failed to become the prime minister, as he needs at least 375 votes.
Out of the 324 votes he received, only 13 came from the 250-member Senate.
Under the current Constitution, the Senate is able to jointly pick a prime minister with the Members of the Parliaments.
Now, the Move Forward Party, which is the leader of the coalition looking to form a government, has shifted its aim to amend the charter to remove the junta-appointed senate’s authority to vote for a PM in order to push for a second nomination of Pita.
The proposal to amend the charter has been proposed today to the House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.
To propose the amendment, Move Forward needs the support of at least 100 MPs. The party currently has 151 MPs.
To pass the bill, however, there must be at least 1/3 of the Senate or 84 senators approving the bill.
Move Forward pointed out that since many senators chose to abstain from voting for the Prime Minister yesterday, they will likely choose to support the amendment of Article 272.
The entire amendment process can be completed within four weeks, according to the party.
The Move Forward Party will meet with the 8 coalition parties today to discuss new strategies. They also claimed it wasn’t purely about making Pita Prime Minister but to provide the opportunity for senators to make a gracious exit.
