4 NLA members fail to meet attendance requirements
Four members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) have failed to meet assembly voting attendance requirements, though they have been spared ejection from the assembly as they correctly submitted leave of absence letters, according to the Senate’s secretary-general.
Wararat Atibaedya, the secretary-general of the Senate acting as the NLA’s secretarygeneral, told reporters yesterday that the NLA president, Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, had instructed her to explain the voting attendance record of seven NLA members accused of excessive absenteeism.
She said the Secretariat of the Senate is tasked with gathering records of voting by the NLA for submission to the Office of the Auditor-General and the Finance Ministry for examination annually.
Between Jan 1-Dec 31, last year, the NLA held a total of 1,264 voting sessions including those related to the passing of legislation. According to NLA rules, members must attend at least one-third of voting sessions, or 421 in this case, in order to retain their assembly membership unless they have properly submitted leave of absence letters to the NLA president in advance, Ms Wararat said.
After the media briefing, copies of the voting records were distributed to reporters.
According to the document, four assembly members failed to meet the one-third attendance requirement, though they still managed to avoid losing their seats in the NLA as they submitted leave of absence letters in compliance with NLA rules.
The four members are air force chief ACM Jom Rungsawang (398 attendances), Distat Hotrakitya, the secretarygeneral of the Council of State (214), navy chief Adm Na Areenich (230), and Somsak Chotrattanasiri, the director of the Bureau of the Budget (387).
The Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw) previously accused seven NLA members of excessive absences falling foul of the NLA rule.
Among the seven accused was former permanent secretary for defence Preecha Chan-o-cha, the younger brother of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, whose attendance was recorded at 428, only seven above the minimum requirement.