The ruling Pheu Thai Party is confident that it will be able to defend its plan to amend Article 68 before the Constitutional Court, an MP said yesterday.
Pheu Thai's Chiang Rai MP Samart Kaewmeechai said the party's legal team had made preparations to defend itself against a complaint filed by Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn.
Samart said Pheu Thai representatives would explain that the amendment does not restrict people's rights, but would clarify the provision so no further interpretation by the Constitutional Court is required.
He added that the amendment would be in line with the 1997 charter. The MP then went on to say that Parliament President Somsak Kiartsuranont was correct in deciding that the three special panels be given 15 days to vet the three amendment drafts, adding that the opposition was free to contest his decision in the Constitutional Court.
However, Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong said Somsak had gone beyond his authority because the opposition had proposed that 60 days be spent on vetting the three drafts.
Thepthai said the meeting lacked quorum before MPs and senators could vote on the timeframe dispute, so Somsak had no right to conclude that the vetting would be done in just 15 days.
He and other Democrat MPs have decided to boycott the vetting panels, but will monitor the process as observers.
Thepthai said the Democrat legal team was considering legal action against Somsak for malfeasance and violation of the charter. He said the Democrat Party expected Pheu Thai to rush the three amendment drafts into Parliament for a second reading in June when an extra-parliamentary session will be held for the second reading of the budget bill.
Meanwhile, Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanij said it would be a waste of time if the opposition insisted on holding a new House-Senate meeting, adding that all processes had been completed correctly on Wednesday night.
At a Senate meeting yesterday, Senator Prasarn Maruekpitak said Nikom should have realised his position while chairing the meeting as he had signed in support of charter change.
Prasarn also mentioned Constitutional Court judge Jaran Pukditanakul, who opted out of considering the case related to charter amendment last year as he had revealed his stance earlier. Nikom, however, shrugged off the criticism.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/04/06/pheu-thai-confident-it-can-defend-amendment/
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