No-confidence debate scheduled for December 7–11

The no-confidence debate will be held from December 7 to 11, with four days allocated for debate and one day for voting.

Government, coalition and opposition party whips agreed on the five-day timeframe at a meeting in parliament today, chaired by Mallika Jirapunvanit, the first deputy House speaker.

The timeframe is a compromise after opposition parties initially demanded five days for debate and one day for voting, while the government and coalition parties proposed three days for debate.

Under the agreement, 72 hours will be allocated for debate. During the first three days, proceedings will run for 19 hours a day, from 8am until 3am the following morning. On the fourth day, however, the debate will run from 8am to 11pm.

The opposition will be allocated 51 hours to debate the motion, while the government and coalition parties will have 17 hours to respond. The chair will be allocated four hours.

Voting is scheduled for October 11, starting at 10am.

Korrawee Prissananantakul, the government’s chief whip, said all whips were satisfied with the “4+1” timeframe and the allocation of debate time.

Eighteen ministers, including the prime minister, will be targeted by the opposition in the censure debate.