By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE MOVE FORWARD WILL by no means join a Pheu Thai-led government if Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is impeached by court or steps down in foreseeable future, said Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon today (May 27).
The largest opposition party will definitely reject the possibility of joining the Pheu Thai-led government in case that the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister may be found guilty by the Constitutional Court in an impeachment lawsuit, thus immediately losing his prime minister’s status or he might possibly call it quits ahead of a court verdict expected in the next few months, Chaithawat said.
Now that the coup junta-named senators are no longer constitutionally empowered to vote alongside elected MPs for prime minister, a future candidate for head of government will be endorsed by a majority of MPs only.
However, given the current phenomenon in which the Move Forward and Pheu Thai are viewed as politically opposed to each other, Chaithawat said, it would be so unbecoming for his party to join ranks with the largest coalition partner under de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra.
Chaithawat said former Move Forward leader/now Move Forward MP Pita Limjaroenrat could vie against anyone else for prime minister if Srettha has called it quits or be immediately deprived by the Constitutional Court of his prime minister’s status.
The Move Forward leader was responding to speculation that the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister might probably be found guilty under the impeachment case in which he had perpetrated a severe breach to the constitution and code of political ethics by naming Pichit Chuenban, a former lawyer hired by Thaksin, as minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office though the portfolioless member of cabinet had already resigned under pressure.
The billionaire, politically powerful Thaksin was accused by his critics of having pushed for the naming of his former lawyer in last month’s cabinet lineup despite 2008’s event in which he was judged guilty of perpetrating a contempt of the court and having had his lawyer’s licence revoked after he had been evidently involved in an attempted payoff with two million baht in cash literally put in food bags and handed to administrative officials of the Supreme Court whilst defending the deposed prime minister over a Bangkok land grab lawsuit.
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Top and Front Page: Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon. Photos: Amarin TV
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