Govt and Senate are playing with fireHouse Speaker Chuan Leekpai, at mic, accepts a motion seeking charter changes from Pheu Thai leader Sompong Amornvivat. It is known the Senate holds the key to charter amendments because one third of the Senate, which equates to 84 votes, is needed to facilitate changes to the supreme law. The first stems from calls to "switch off" the current Senate's power to vote for the prime minister along with the Lower House, as stipulated by Section 276 of the constitution. Among the 250-strong Senate appointed by the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order regime, there are three factions. At the same time, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam have claimed two referendums would be too costly, at almost 10 billion baht, and time-consuming.

Source: Bangkok Post September 12, 2020 00:11 UTC