The decision was made based on the NLA’s work procedure regulation, which was tied to the 2014 interim charter.

It said a person’s membership of the NLA would be nullified if a member failed to give his or her votes as required by the regulation.

The NLA meeting considered that the seven members, including former Army Chief General Preecha Chan-o-cha, did not breach the regulation. They missed voting because they sometimes had to perform their normal duty as state officials, it said. But no further detail was given, as the meeting was held in secret for one hour today.

The NLA also voted in favour of amending its work procedure rule, removing clauses which set out the number of times a member fails to vote that would cause membership to be nullified.

NLA vice president Surachai Liengboonlertchai said the new charter had no such requirement. Rather, it specified the number of days that they should not miss NLA meetings, or would lose their posts.

That was clear enough, and the matter did not need to be addressed in a regulation any further, Surachai said.

The issue was controversial and raised public criticism as Gen Preecha is a brother of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.