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A ruling Thai party on Thursday lambasted at a sustained bid of senate speaker-designate Surachai Liangboonlertchai only to serve the alleged cause of "rebels" by naming a non-elected prime minister.
The Pheu Thai (for Thais) Party has resolved to protest against the attempt of the senate speaker-designate to name a non-elected premier because such thing is obviously unconstitutional and illegitimate, said Chusak Sirinil, a member of the party's legal team. The Pheu Thai Party is core of the caretaker government led by deputy Premier Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal who is currently performing on behalf of legally-deposed Premier Yingluck Shinawatra.
Chusak explained that only an elected lawmaker could be named as head of government under democratic rule and in accordance with the constitution and lashed out at Surachai for allegedly breaching the charter in favor of the anti-government protesters led by former deputy Premier Suthep Thaugsuban, currently faced with rebellion charges alongside a dozen ex-Democrat Party legislators who have orchestrated the anti-government protests in the last several months.
No such person as a non-elected premier will be necessary because, he said, acting deputy Premier Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal is legally doing the chores of a caretaker premier until a post-election government has been set up.
"Even if the senate speaker-designate was able to find somebody whom he might name as a non-elected premier, he could not legally submit the name of that person for royal approval as long as the constitution is concerned.
"That's the responsibility of a parliament president. But there is no parliament president for the time being, pending a new election," Chusak said. A parliament president is to be named from among elected legislators following the nationwide polls.
Chusak said Surachai cannot legally act on behalf of an absent parliament president when it comes to the submitting of the name of a prime minister for the Thai monarch to approve.
Besides, the senate speaker-designate is not legally authorized to honor a royal approval for such naming of a premier, either elected or non-elected, said the Pheu Thai legal expert.
"The attempt of the senate speaker-designate is not only violating the constitution by doing what he is not legally authorized to do in the first place but lending undue support for rebellious acts of anti-government protesters who have been demanding a non-elected premier to replace an elected one," Chusak said.
Only by way of nationwide polls can a new premier be named under democratic rule and in accordance with the constitution, he said.
For that reason, the Pheu Thai Party had not joined the ongoing effort launched at parliament by Surachai who had discussed plans and proposals leading to the "way-out for the country" with representatives of the judicial branch and independent agencies as well as the private sector.
Surachai had also talked with former Premier/Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and Suthep who both have persistently pressed for "national reforms" ahead of the election and for the naming of a non-elected premier.
Suthep on Thursday had his followers thwart a planned meeting between the caretaker government and the Election Commission at an air force auditorium in the northern outskirts of the Thai capital.
The meeting to discuss a royal decree for the new election was indefinitely put off as hundreds of anti-government protesters managed to force their way into the air force's premises to effectually stop it.
Earlier this year, Suthep, a former secretary general of the opposition party, had had his followers forcibly disrupt a previous election which was finally judged null and void by the Constitutional Court, prompting the caretaker government and the polling agency to hold a new one, tentatively scheduled for July 20.
"Suthep and his colleagues have designed a thinly-veiled scheme under which they aimed to seize powers without going through an election. The word 'reforms' is merely used as a pretext for such hidden agenda," Chusak commented.
Nevertheless, the senate speaker-designate earlier said his effort will be finished on Friday no matter if he could find the " way-out for the country" or not and despite strong protests from the Pheu Thai Party and pro-government Red Shirt members who have demonstrated in Bangkok's western outskirts whereas the anti- government protesters have gathered in the heart of the capital.
He maintained that he had not been assigned by anyone to find " the way-out" from the prolonged political crisis and only intended to help prevent possible chaos and violence among the opposing sides of society.
Chatuporn Prompand, leader of the Red Shirt movement, earlier announced that the pro-government demonstrators would immediately move into the heart of the capital if a non-elected premier was eventually named and submitted to the monarch for approval.
