Thai court upholds Budget Bill despite alleged proxy voting

Thailand's Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that the annual Budget Bill passed in Parliament last month is legal, despite alleged proxy voting.

The move allows the Thai government to focus on measures to counter the economic impact from issues such as the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan.

Five out of nine judges voted in favour of the Bill but ordered votes in the second and third readings to be recast, following allegations involving a number of MPs who were absent during the motion but whose votes were cast. One lawmaker admitted he was out of Bangkok during the vote while another said she was already on her way to China.

Dr Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political scientist at Sukhothai Thammathirat University, said much is at stake should the Bill be invalidated or rejected in the revote.

Many government operations could be halted as only half of the previous fiscal year's Budget can be used while a new Bill is submitted.

"This would accommodate only routine expenses such as salaries of government officials," he said.

However, analysts expect the Bill to be approved in the revoting scheduled for next Thursday as the ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in Parliament, with 263 seats against the opposition's 235.

One urgent task the government faces is to do more to counter the coronavirus outbreak, with at least 25 confirmed cases in the country so far. Earlier this week, it announced temporary assistance measures for affected businesses.

Many Thai tourism operators and related businesses are shutting down following China's suspension of tours abroad since Jan 27. Thailand is China's No. 1 holiday destination - it welcomed 11 million Chinese visitors last year. The Tourism and Sports Ministry has estimated up to 300 billion baht (S$13.3 billion) in economic losses.

Analysts were not surprised by the court ruling, given the issues the country is facing.

Dr Wanwichit Boonprong, a political science professor at Rangsit University, said: "There is an urgent need for government spending on tackling critical issues like the virus outbreak and the PM2.5 pollution. The court must have taken such urgency into account."

Thailand's economy was already hit by the US-China trade war and the strong local currency last year, with an estimated 2.6 per cent gross domestic product growth, compared with forecasts of more than 3 per cent.

In view of the coronavirus outbreak, the central bank hoped for just over 2 per cent growth in the first quarter of this year.

The country has also been battling unhealthy levels of air pollution since late last year, with hundreds of schools in Bangkok shut temporarily last month.

The 3.2 trillion baht Bill, the biggest annual Budget in Thai history, was passed on Jan 11 with 253-0 votes in the 500-member Lower House after four days of debate. A total of 196 MPs abstained while the rest did not cast their votes.

The Bill was passed months later than usual as the new government took some time to settle in after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha began his second term last July.

This was not the first instance of alleged proxy voting in Parliament.

In 2014, during the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, a law allowing government loans worth two trillion baht was deemed unconstitutional by the court due to proxy voting.