The opposition on Thursday filed a censure motion targeting only Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and making many accusations against her, including submitting to the influence and direction of her father Thaksin Shinawatra.
Opposition leader and People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said the prime minister lacked leadership, qualifications, knowledge and capabilities to head the national administration.
He made the comment at parliament, where Ms Paetongtarn was attending a sitting for the very first time since her appointment as prime minister last August. Her appearance came after repeated entreaties from MPs to show up and answer questions.
She said on Wednesday that she was ready to answer all questions in a censure debate and would let ministers answer any questions that might concern them. She also said she was confident the coalition would survive a censure debate because unity was its strength.
Mr Natthaphong said the premier had no intention to solve people’s problems and had failed in economic administration as the growth of Thai gross domestic product was the slowest among Southeast Asian nations.
“The prime minister has let subordinates to have control over her and has let her father lead and persuade (her) and get involved in national administration,” the opposition leader said, referring to former prime minister Thaksin.
He said the debate, scheduled to start on March 24, would include issues concerning Thaksin, despite warnings from some Pheu Thai Party figures that the opposition should focus only on people actually in the government.
Mr Natthaphong said the opposition had decided from the beginning to question only the prime minister alone because she was the root cause of all the failures of national administration.
At the same time, he said, the prime minister deserved a chance to answer questions about the problems facing the country.
“It will be useless to censure other individual ministers because all of the problems come from the prime minister,” he said.
He accused Prime Minister Paetongtarn of failing to control the votes of coalition parties, saying the failure resulted from the formation of a coalition government with political parties from different poles.
The coalition came together only to meet the demands for political gain from parties of different ideological views, and the appointment of ministers was not based on their capabilities and knowledge, he said.
Mr Natthaphong said that although the no-confidence motion targeted only the prime minister, its content would also concern many ministries and coalition parties.
The opposition had clear evidence to back the many topics it intended to raise, which could lead to investigations in the future, Mr Natthaphong said.
He also said that the vote after the debate could also reflect whether the prime minister could control the votes of coalition parties.
Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said the debate would start on March 24. The opposition wants five days but whips from the government, the opposition and House members have yet to agree on its duration, he added.
