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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002729

Prayut escapes termination despite ruling on Green Line interference

The Constitutional Court on Thursday dismissed a petition calling for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to be disqualified from office for interfering in the MRT Green Line rail project.

The petition was submitted on April 2019 by 72 MPs.

It accused Prayut of issuing an executive order on the implementation of the MRT Green Line project to intervene and interfere in acquiring concessions from government agencies.

At the time he issued the order, Prayut was head of the junta National Council for Peace and Order.

The court ruled that his executive order violated Section 184 and 186 of the Constitution, which warranted termination of ministerial status. However, it said that constitutional provisions on the termination of ministerial status only cover people holding the position of minister at the time. Since Prayut vacated his position as prime minister at the 2019 general election, he was not subject to disqualification from office.

Published : July 02, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002711

Pro-democracy group announces rally for Prayut’s ouster

Ratsadon, a pro-democracy group led by Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, called on supporters to join its rally on Friday and help remove Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha from office.

The rally will be held from 4pm to 10pm, but the place is yet to be announced.

“We also invite vendors who have suffered from the government’s policies to sell their goods at the protest site,” Parit added.

The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration also announced on its Facebook page that a Ratsadon market will be set up at the protest site. The announcement came with the hashtag: #เปิดท้ายวันศุกร์ลุกไล่เผด็จการ or Friday market against dictatorship.

Pro-democracy group announces rally for Prayut’s ouster

Published : July 01, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002512

Jatuporn vows to topple Prayut regime in three months

The leader of the United People for Thailand pro-democracy group, Jatuporn Prompan, on Saturday vowed to topple Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-chas regime within three months.

He made the remarks during the anti-government rally outside Government House in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district on Saturday.

The group had earlier gathered at Phan Fa Lilat bridge at 4pm before moving to Government House at 6.30pm.

“It would take three months to eliminate Prayut’s regime, not today or tomorrow,” he said.

“This regime was made 15 years ago, not seven years. We cannot be patient with Prayut’s impudence anymore.”

Jatuporn vows to topple Prayut regime in three months

The turnout for the rally on Saturday was low, comparable with Thursday’s aborted protest. There was a large police presence.

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Published : June 27, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002457

Democrat’s two-ballot voting system only charter change proposal to pull through Parliament

Only one of the 13 charter amendment drafts proposed by both sides of the House made it through the first reading in Parliament on Thursday.

The amendment proposed by the Democrat Party on a two-ballot voting system pulled through with 552 yes votes, 24 nays and 130 abstentions.

Voting on the 13 Constitution amendment bills took more than six hours and 12 were rejected because they did not meet the vote count required.

The rejected drafts included opposition Pheu Thai Party’s proposal that senators’ right to select a prime minister be taken away and ruling Palang Pracharth Party’s proposal on fighting corruption.

The Democrat Party, meanwhile, proposed amendments to Articles 83 and 91 of the Constitution.

Article 83 will be amended to revive the two-ballot voting system in which the House of Representative’s 500 MPs will comprise 400 elected from constituencies and 100 from the party-list system. The Lower House currently comprises 350 constituency MPs and 150 from party lists.

Article 91, meanwhile, deals with the calculation of party-list MPs, which will be changed in line with the two-ballot system.

However, some MPs and senators do not agree with the two-ballot system because they believe it will only benefit large political parties.

After voting was completed a panel for considering charter amendment drafts was established. The 45-member committee includes 17 representatives of the government coalition and 13 members of the opposition. The panel will spend 15 days studying the amendment draft and will hold its first meeting on June 29.

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Published : June 25, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002360

Voting on constitutional drafts to be held separately, could stretch into many hours: Chuan

Voting on 13 constitutional drafts on Thursday will go ahead separately, House Speaker Chuan Leekpai said on Wednesday.

He explained that consideration of constitution amendments will be made sequentially starting with the Pheu Thai Party and followed by Palang Pracharath, Bhumjaithai, the Democrat Party and Chartthaipattana.

“The vote on 13 constitutional drafts on Thursday will be made separately, which may take many hours,” he said.

He added that the establishment of a committee for considering constitutional drafts will be made under the process.

Asked whether the Parliament session would be extended, Chuan said a time limit of six hours had been set for each side and each party would discuss how much time they would take exactly.

Published : June 23, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002326

Parliament passes new referendum law, opening path to charter change

The new referendum law sailed through Parliament on Tuesday by 611 votes to 4, paving the way for changes to the Constitution.

Under the new law, a national referendum can be held in five instances: to amend the Constitution, on issues in a Cabinet resolution, issues the law says must go to a public vote, issues forwarded by Parliament, and for an issue backed by at least 50,000 signatures. The Election Commission must organise any referendum on charter change within four months of approval. Thais living overseas will be included in the ballot, which may be conducted electronically.

Published : June 22, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002285

Fervent fans remember Yingluck on her birthday

Many tuk-tuk taxis parked outside Bangkok’s Hua Lampong train station on Monday sported signs wishing former premier Yingluck Shinawatra a happy birthday.

In Thailand, fans normally buy advertising banners in the subway or BTS stations to celebrate their beloved singer or actor’s birthday, but Yingluck’s fans chose to bring her celebration down to street level.

At around 3pm on Monday, a clip of Yingluck thanking her fans for the wishes was posted on her Facebook page. The former premier said she was delighted and hoped her fans were doing well too.

Beloved by the rural poor, Yingluck was ousted from office and has been in exile since 2017.

She joined her older brother Thaksin, who was deposed in a military coup in 2006 and is also living overseas in exile.

Fervent fans remember Yingluck on her birthdayFervent fans remember Yingluck on her birthdayFervent fans remember Yingluck on her birthday

Published : June 21, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002273

Thammasat group calls on fans to prepare for Thursday rally

As Bangkok authorities ease restrictions, the anti-establishment group United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) announced that it is planning to hold a new rally on Thursday.

However, the Sunday announcement did not reveal the protest venue and fans were urged to monitor the UFTD Facebook page.

Meanwhile, protest leader Parit Chiwarak said on his Facebook page that the group’s demands will remain the same.

Several anti-establishment protesters were detained over lese majeste charges, though some were granted bail after several weeks in jail.

Published : June 21, 2021

By : The Nation

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002136

Jatuporn set to ring the curtain down on Peace TV over crushing debts

Red shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan has decided to shut down his “Peace TV” channel on June 30 after almost eight years in operation due to overwhelming debts, according to his Facebook video posted on Wednesday.

Jatuporn is one of the core leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the “red shirts”, and a former parliament member from the Pheu Thai Party. He has been a long-time supporter of the Thaksin administration and has stood against any subsequent governments opposed to it, including the current Prayut administration.

His television channel was launched on December 10, 2013 (Thai Constitution Day) as UDD TV (United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship Television), changing its name to Peace TV on September 1 the following year. It reaches the public via satellite, cable, and web streaming, with a focus on supporting liberal democracy.

“Peace TV has always been a target of the NBTC [National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission], which time after time has tried to shut down the channel for various reasons,” Jatuporn said.

The NBTC revoked the channel’s licence on April 27, 2015, but it relaunched on July 21 that year under temporary protection by the administrative court. It closed again from July 21 to August 21, 2016, during the constitutional referendum.

“Every time we are ordered shut we seek the court’s protection, but it usually took the court about three months to issue protection, during which time we have not earned any revenue from commercials,” Jatuporn said.

“We have tried to stay afloat by cutting working hours and employees’ salaries, but this has not helped much so we have decided to shut down the channel for good from June 30,” he said.

A source revealed that Peace TV has accumulated debts of more than THB140 million.

Jatuporn added that although the TV channel would be closed, he would continue to fight the “Prayut regime” via social media including Facebook and YouTube, which combined have about 1.5 million followers.

Published : June 17, 2021

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40002015

PM agrees to consider senator’s proposal to adjust public debt law

The Senate has signalled it will approve the emergency decree to loan another 500 billion baht for Covid-19 relief, but with caveats.

Senator Kamnoon Sittisamarn on Monday urged the government to take an alternative approach by amending the Public Debt Management Act to expand the emergency loan framework in the annual budget.

Kamnoon said he had previously opposed emergency loans under Democrat and Pheu Thai governments as they violated the 2007 Constitution and could not be scrutinised properly by Parliament. But he said he would support the latest loan decree under Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government because it was permitted under the law and current Constitution.

Prayut said he would take the senator’s suggestion into consideration but added the government must carefully consider the situation and try to address it in a new way to avoid past mistakes.

Kamnoon also protested that the deadline for review of budget spending, which is 60 days after the fiscal year ends, is too late. Details of government borrowing and spending should be scrutinised more carefully so that the public would not have to bear the burden of debt, he added.

The government should also do more to support Thai traditional medicine, he said.

Most of the Senate – which was appointed under Prayut’s junta administration – say they will approve the 500-billion-baht borrowing decree.

Published : June 15, 2021

By : The Nation