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Shenanigans by the ruling party and its coalition partners on Wednesday night led to the failure of a constitutional amendment motion, likely delaying proceedings for months.
Despite attempts by MPs from the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, parliament chose to, on Wednesday night, to go ahead with voting for a constitutional amendment motion.
However, the vote to set up a committee to fix the constitution failed on the parliament floor after coalition partner Bhumjai Thai walked out during citing obstructionism by its PPRP ally.
Despite campaigning to fix the charter, BJT said that there was no point to voting due to obstructionism by the PPRP and the requirement that a third of the military-appointed senate had to vote against its own interest and to fix the constitution. (Calls to fix the constitution center around the senate which is wholly appointed by the military and has the power to help select the prime minister)
As a result the motion failed gaining only 208 votes of the 369 votes to pass the motion. That means that the constitutional amendment process has to restart completely and that a referendum must be held, according to a Constitutional Court ruling last week, to determine whether the public wants charter amendments.
“That means that the whole process is going be delayed by at least six months to over a year,” Thai political analyst Arun Saronchai told Thai Enquirer.
“It is exactly the outcome that the ruling party wants. It means that the next election will likely be held under the current constitution and the senate will remain in place ensuring that the ruling party will be able to keep Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha in power.”
Pro-democracy protesters
Student and pro-democracy protest groups told Thai Enquirer before Wednesday that they would be keeping a close eye on parliamentary proceedings.
The failure of the motion likely means the resumption of large scale protests and calls for the Prayut government to step down.
Many pro-democracy voices took to social media on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to question the proceedings in parliament and to call for change.
The hashtag #แก้รัฐธรรมนูญ (Fix the Constitution) was used over 140,000 times on Twitter with many calling into question the antics by the ruling party and the BJT.
Others called for the wholesale removal of the government and the charter and the resumption of pro-democracy rallies.
So, it means you drop your commitment to PEOPLE, whom you represent and just to survive..I got it 💆🏻♀️ #แก้รัฐธรรมนูญ https://t.co/uRLw74oQHI
— Sivinee (@sivineepint) March 17, 2021
เรื่องนี้สอนให้รู้ว่า ตราบใดที่ยังมี ส.ว.เราก็ไม่สามารถ #แก้รัฐธรรมนูญ ได้#สวมีไว้ทำไม
— Wanvipa Maison ส.ส.มด (@MaisonWanvipa) March 17, 2021