House dissolution report denied
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House dissolution report denied

The Pheu Thai Party on Sunday denied as groundless a report that its strategies committee has proposed a dissolution of the House of Representatives to counter the anti-amnesty protests.

Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the report was not true and that the strategies committee did not meet yesterday.

He said there was only a meeting of the leaders of four parties in the coalition to sign a ratification not to bring up an amnesty bill for deliberation in parliament throughout the remaining time of the current term of the government.

A House dissolution was not a way out for the country's problems. To do so would require several thousands of millions of baht for a snap election. Moreover, the government has only a little more than one year left in office, Mr Prompong said.

The Pheu Thai spokesman claimed that according to information reaching the party, the anti-government protesters would move from three spots - Silom, Asoke and Soi Aree on Phahon Yothid road - to Ratchadamnoen Avenue at 11am tomorrow.

He said Pheu Thai worried that on the way to Ratchadamnoen the protesters would be harassed by a third-hand party and the government would be blamed for whatever might happen.

Moreover, between 500 and 1,000 people each from 10 southern provinces would be brought to Ratchadamnoen tomorrow when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is scheduled to deliver its ruling on the Preah Vihear dispute.

If the ruling came out against Thailand, the Democrat Party might upgrade the protest to seek the government's ouster, Mr Prompong said.

Mr Prompong said the Pheu Thai Party would next week file a petition seeking the dissolution of the Democrat Party with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for violating Section 68 of the constitution by organisising a protest to oust the government under the pretext of protesting against the Amnesty Bill.

Despite the coalition parties' assurance that the Amnesty Bill would be scrapped, the Democrat Party did not call off the protest. It instead vowed to set up the people's court to consider legal cases against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. This would be an act outside the constitution, the Pheu Thai spokesman said.

Mr Prompong said Thaksin had assigned a legal team to file a complaint against former Yasothon senator Somboon Thongburan for saying in a clip on YouTube that there would be 400 men in black gathering at Dhammakaya temple at the order of Thaksin to harass the Democrat Party's protest.

Mr Somboon's allegation was groundless, he added.

On the absence of senators in the Group of 40 from the Senate meeting on Friday to consider the Amnesty Bill, causing the meeting to run short of a quorum, Mr Prompong said they were playing a political game and did not want to see the country find a way out of the political impasse.

The party would file a petition for the Parliament president to conduct an ethical probe against them on Nov 13, he said.

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