20 September 2024

Opposition parties have agreed to hold a no-confidence debate against the government, tentatively in early April, after the passage of the 2024 budget bill.

Chaithawat Tulathon, Move Forward and opposition leader, said today that a motion will be sent to House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha on March 13th, to seek a no-confidence debate under Section 152 of the Constitution, meaning that there will not be a vote after the debate.

He said that the opposition parties agreed that there are sufficient grounds to censure the government because, after about six months in office, it has not fulfilled the promises made to the electorate during the election campaign and has also failed to achieve anything substantial.

Moreover, the government has been selective in the enforcement of the law and has not been serious in the suppression of corruption in the government bureaucracy, said Chaithawat.

He also said that the censure debate will cover a wide range of issues and each opposition party will identify the issues to be debated and send them to the Move Forward party for collation, adding that opposition parties will work out the time needed for the debate on each issue.

Chaichana Detdecho, deputy leader of the Democrat party, said that the special treatment given to convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be debated as an example of a double standard practiced by the government.