The ruling Palang Pracharath Party is nominating its deputy leader, Paiboon Nititawan, as chairman of the House committee scrutinising two organic laws needed for introducing a new electoral system, according to Chinnaworn Bunyakiat, a committee member.
Mr Chinnaworn, a Democrat Party MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat, said someone in the PPRP contacted him and asked him to back the bid to make Mr Paiboon the scrutiny panel chairman.
Committee members have been selected and today, it will convene a meeting to elect a chairman, Mr Chinnaworn said. He said anything to do with bids to head the panel must be debated in the committee. The Democrat Party will not propose a candidate for the post, Mr Chinnaworn said.
The committee has been formed to vet two crucial bills to amend two organic laws, one on political parties and the other on the election of MPs.
Three of six bills to amend the organic law on political parties passed their first reading in parliament on Friday.
The bills will be merged with one sponsored by the cabinet adopted as the core bill for scrutiny. The six amendment bills dropped were initiated by the opposition parties. Mr Chinnaworn said he did not think the earlier rejection of the opposition bills would spell a problem for the scrutiny of the rest of the bills.
"There won't be any problem as long as members stick to the rules," he said.
Theeratchai Panthumas, a Move Forward Party list MP, said he would oppose Mr Paiboon heading the committee, saying he was unfit for the job.
He said Mr Paiboon refused to listen to some opinions when he headed a panel on charter changes last year.
