The Pheu Thai Party believes the government, opposition and Senate whips can reach an agreement on a charter amendment proposal that would pave the way for the establishment of a charter drafting assembly (CDA) that would be responsible for writing a new constitution "soon".
MPs from the ruling party are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide if Pheu Thai should submit its version of the proposal, which mainly focuses on Section 256 of the constitution.
The section deals with procedures and requirements for a constitutional amendment.
Pheu Thai's version, if approved, will require the establishment of a 200-member CDA, whose members are picked from various groups from across the country, before an amendment can proceed.
Parliament is scheduled to scrutinise various charter amendment bills section-by-section from Jan 14–15. Its president, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, said he would include the People Party's (PP) proposal to amend Section 256 to set up the CDA.
Deputy Pheu Thai leader, Chousak Sirinil, on Monday stressed the need to set up the CDA, saying once one is successfully established, there will be no need for parliament to consider an amendment proposal section-by-section because the job will be handled by the constitution drafting assembly.
"I believe the government, opposition and Senate whips will discuss and agree on the matter," said Mr Chousak, who also serves as the Prime Minister's Office Minister.
He also said that chief government whip, Wisut Chainarun, will decide when the government, opposition and Senate whips will meet to discuss the issue.
Responding to speculations that Pheu Thai MPs will not vote in support of the PP's bill, Mr Chousak said that any party should be allowed to submit their own proposal to change Section 256.
In a Facebook post on Monday, PP list-MP Parit Wacharasindhu noted that despite Pheu Thai's constant criticism of the PP's push to amend the constitution, several of its proposals are similar to PP's.
He then pointed to the PP's proposal to remove the rule which require an amendment to receive the backing of at least one-third of the Senate to pass, and subsequent push to have the requirement replaced with a two-thirds support from the House of Representatives.
"Did you [Pheu Thai] forget that you also proposed removing the requirement when you tabled your own bill early last year?", Mr Parit wrote in the Facebook post.
