Former Thai finance minister urges speedy ruling of caretaker cabinet status

[webfact]

Former finance minister urges speedy ruling of caretaker cabinet status



BANGKOK: -- The former finance minister today urged speedy action to seek interpretation from the Constitutional Court over the status of the caretaker cabinet if it has expired after the 30-day mandatory period to open Parliament after the February 2 election could not be achieved.

Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala’s call appeared on his Facebook page today after the caretaker role of the Yingluck cabinet was dealt with another legal blow when parliament could not open to convene and appoint a new prime minister within the constitutional mandatory period.

So far the Election Commission has not yet announced even an elected MP after the February 2 general election due to boycott and disruption of elections by anti-government protesters led by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee which stressed the need to reform before going to election.

But Prime Minister Yingluck Shiinawatra rejected and went ahead pressuring the EC to hold general election despite warning by the EC of troubles laid ahead of the election.

Mr Thirachai raised as a significant move when the PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban read a letter of a former chief judge of the Supreme Court at the Lumphini rally site last night giving his personal opinion on the status of the caretaker cabinet after the expiry of the 30-day period.

The chief judge said in his letter that the caretaker government of Ms Yingluck Shinnawatra has lost its legal status since March 4 because the Election Commission was unable to declare names of all elected MPs, and therefore could not appoint the new prime minister within the 30-day period after the general election.

Thirachai said that if this was the opinion of the former chief judge of the Supreme Court, it should be given strong weight and should be considered a very big issue and needed to be interpreted immediately.

He said that if the Constitutional Court rules that the caretaker status of the cabinet remains valid, then it will not matter.

But in case the ruling is opposite or the caretaker status has expired since yesterday, then it would be in trouble because the caretaker government has lost legitimacy to give orders or do any official work.

He said that as there is no ruling by the Constitutional Court, government officials will be at risk of whether to still listen to order of the caretaker government or not.

If government officials reject orders, then they could be accused of resisting orders. On the contrary, if they listen to order, uncertainties will arise whether cabinet ministers still have authority under the law to give orders.

The former finance minister said that from now budget disbursement would be at risk and problems would even be double if disbursement committed to third party.

He then said that it was necessary to have a speedy interpretation of the status of the caretaker government by the Constitutional Court.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/former-finance-minister-urges-speedy-ruling-caretaker-cabinet-status/


-- Thai PBS 2014-03-05

[bangkokheat]

i have visions of a pack of hyenas looking to feast

[bangkokheat]

i have visions of a pack of hyenas looking to feast

[Scamper]

Indeed - in the opinion of two former members of the Supreme Court - the former Yingluck administration ceased when a parliamentary sitting was not achieved yesterday. Article 7 from today now takes effect. The former Yingluck administration no longer has the power to even ask for funds from the EC. They no longer have the power to make any announcements, proposals, or even to speak as an administration.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Scamper

[Thai at Heart]

Is his name a typo?

How does he fit that on a business card?

[Basil B]

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

[slipperx]

Watching this is like watching pre-school kids on speed rushing around and smacking heads together.

Seems to be no sense or order anywhere as these events unfold. How does a country function with no government or one that no one is sure exists or not.

Just weird - you would think there could be a little forethought

[lungmi]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

Thailand had the same problem before. Thaksin was caretaker but he didn't accomplish his duty as caretaker.

He ignored the Constitution and this is why the Army discharged him of his neglected duty.

He kicked him off alone.

His clone is on the same way.

[Tatsujin]

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

The Senate, which is one of the reasons they tried to blindside everyone last year with their attempted Senate changes.

[PepperMe]

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

After giving this a lot of thought.

I think the likelihood would be that the constitutional court will probably slap this into the hands of the EC and the Senate to decide between them. Or possibly only the senate.

A new PM can be put in the next day, and I think they will already have someone in mind who is already primed for the position. The rest of the cabinet can be replaced by next week.

But the main thing would be that Yingluck will be gone forever. Soon to be followed by the likes of Surapong, Chalerm and a few other undesirables.

I doubt that the C Court will make any decisions as to who, why or what, they will allow someone else to take the decision. They will make that decision permissible constitutionally.

Edited March 5, 2014 by PepperMe

[kurtgruen]

From what I gather, the Senate is in charge now, once a legal ruling is made. The outcome of the legal ruling should be obvious and ruled against the Yingluck Caretaker Government.

Then there will be a void, which the Senate will fill, according to rules in the Thai Constitution.

Which leads me to believe, that the Senate can then appoint a "Reform Committee" and later set the date for the next elections, unless there is a definite date, they need to call elections by.

[ChrisY1]

Is his name a typo?

How does he fit that on a business card?

He uses A4 size business cards....

[ChrisY1]

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

Look....if no-one here on TV knows...how on earth can the government know??

[BillyBobThai]

As Yingluck tries to make her escape she runs into an unexpected problem.

[Dogmatix]

Thirachai now has reason to regret being so accommodating towards the Shin clan when he was S-G of the SEC. The SEC was super helpful over the Temasek acquisition of SHIN Corp and super unhelpful at cooperating with the investigation of alleged concealed assets of Thaksin in the ownership of SC Assets through two highly dubious Labuan private "funds". He got his reward to be finance minister for four months before he got the shaft and was replaced with the more pliable Kittirat whose more pro-active stance on the telling "white" lies is more in tune with the Shin clan's own philosophy.

[Dogmatix]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Well who is in charge???

As much as I would like to see the backs of the Shinawatra's, you can not have a country without someone in charge...

And if YL did find it to much and did a runner who will appoint a new PM?

Thailand had the same problem before. Thaksin was caretaker but he didn't accomplish his duty as caretaker.

He ignored the Constitution and this is why the Army discharged him of his neglected duty.

He kicked him off alone.

His clone is on the same way.

It was a little bit differen because in 2006 there was no concept of individual petitions to the Constitutional Court which had to go through the attorney general who is usually in the government's pocket. Now the court has set a precedent by accepting petitions from anyone, even though this doesn't seem explicitly permitted by the Constitution, and it seems irreversible.

The 2006 election was also controversial because Thaksin set the date less than 45 days from the dissolution of Parliament but that was also never propertly challenged for some reason, although the election was annulled because the EC was found culpable of not organising a secret ballot due to the positioning of the booths. We are now in an era where anything that looks remotely dodgy from a constitutional point of view will be challenged immediately in the court. Since the Constitution is drafted with limited scenarios in mind, the judges are going to be very busy.

[Crushdepth]

..

Edited March 5, 2014 by Crushdepth

[BillyBobThai]

Upon hearing that the Constitutional Court had ruled against Yingluck , Thaksin was seen about to cry.

[bigbamboo]

Is his name a typo?

How does he fit that on a business card?

He tried to shorten it to Phu but was told that was a stupid name for a politician and if you called yourself 'Poo' no foreigner would ever take you seriously.