BANGKOK, Thailand – Prime Minister’s Office Minister Paradorn Prissananantakul has stated that although the House of Representatives has been dissolved, the caretaker government continues to perform essential functions. These include managing the escalating situation along the Thai–Cambodian border and coordinating disaster relief operations across affected regions. However, he announced that phase 2 of the government’s Half-Half co-payment scheme must be suspended due to legal restrictions under election law, which prohibit the launch of new spending programs during the election period.
According to Paradorn, all preparations for the second phase of the scheme had been completed before the House was dissolved, with plans to submit the proposal to the Cabinet on December 12. Public outreach and procedural steps had already begun, but the government must now pause the process in compliance with legal requirements.
Paradorn also addressed the constitutional amendment process, explaining the Bhumjaithai Party’s role in advancing the effort. He said the party remained engaged from the first reading and supported compromise proposals during the committee stage to avoid deadlock.
One major sticking point was Section 256/8, which deals with the Senate’s authority in the amendment process. While the committee proposed scaling back the Senate’s powers, senators introduced a counterproposal and warned they would vote against the entire bill if their version failed. Since the amendment required at least 67 Senate votes to pass, the risk of rejection was clear.
To keep the amendment process from collapsing entirely, Bhumjaithai ultimately supported preserving the Senate’s current role. While this limited the scope of immediate reform, the party viewed it as the only viable option to keep the broader constitutional amendment effort alive. (NNT)
