Thailand's People Power Party (PPP),the core ruling party of the coalition government, on Wednesday agreed unanimously to choose veteran MP Chai Chidchob as its candidate for House Speaker, vacanted by Yongyuth Tiyapairat who resigned earlier pending trial on electoral fraud charges against him.
According to a PPP spokesman, a meeting on late Wednesday afternoon by the executive committee of PPP, chaired by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej as the party leader, has seen the members agree unanimously to choose Chai, a veteran MP from the northeastern province of Buri Ram, as candidate for House Speaker.
Chai Chidchob, in his 80s, is father of Newin Chidchob, one of the 111 senior executives of the former ruling party Thai Rak Thai(TRT) who were banned from political activities for five years after the TRT was disbanded on a court order on electoral fraud charges last May.
PPP will officially put forward Chai's candidacy at the parliamentary meeting next Tuesday and the proposal is expected tobe accepted, the spokesman said.
Earlier it was reported that there was infighting in the PPP over the choice of candidate as the new House Speaker.
PPP is hoping that Chai could fill the vacancy of House Speaker, after the predecessor Yongyuth Tiyapairat, a former deputy leader of PPP facing trial for electoral fraud charges in last December's general election, resigned from his post as House Speaker and Parliament President on April 30.
Yongyuth had denied the charges and said he resigned to uphold the dignity of the institution and to fight his case in the Supreme Court after the Election Commission sought to disqualify him, charging him of having bribed local heads in his hometown in the northernmost province of Chiang Rai where he contended as an PPP MP candidate, to ensure his victory in the Dec. 23 election.
Yongyuth, 47, was elected as the House Speaker and President ofParliament on Jan. 22, after the PPP declared victory in the Dec. 23 election.
The only opposition party, Democrat Party, who formed a whip at the parliament, said it has decided to send a candidate to contest for the House Speaker post but no name has been released by now.
The search for a new House Speaker has been closely watched as the PPP-led coalition government and its opponents are engaged in a battle over the amendments to the 2007 Constitution, which was installed by the military-backed interim government after a military coup on Sept. 19, 2006 toppled Thaksin Shinawatra administration and abrogated the 1997 Constitution.
The PPP, the reincarnation of the Thaksin-founded TRT, has been pushing for the charter amending since it won the Dec. 23 election and formed the current coalition government.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article