Bhumjaithai's Sophon elected as new House Speaker

Bhumjaithai MP for Buri Ram province, Sophon Zaram, was elected the new Speaker of the House today with 289 votes from members of the parliament, against the contender from the People’s party, Parit Wacharasindhu, who received 123.

Eighty MPs abstained from voting and five votes were invalid.

Today 497 of the country’s 500 MPs attended the first House meeting to elect the House Speaker and two deputy House speakers.

Before the voting, the two candidates for the speakership were given the opportunity to explain their visions for parliament.

Sophon said that he would like parliament to be more proactive in initiating bills and in addressing the problems of the people, in parallel with the government.

Recalling his 20 years of experience in parliament, he said that he has seen the strong and weak points of the legislature and will make use of his experience to improve the performance of parliament for the benefit of the people.

He outlined the main responsibilities of parliament, which are to be a channel through which the people can voice their complaints or grievances, so that they can be raised with the government, to keep a check on the government’s performance and to promulgate laws.

Sophon also said that there are many obsolete and impractical laws which need to be revoked or updated, to keep up with changes in circumstances.

Meanwhile, People’s party’s candidate Parit said that the role of the opposition is not limited to keeping the government in check, but is also to initiate bills in parliament.

As far as the House speaker is concerned, he said that they must be impartial and transparent, adding that the speaker must be a role model for fellow MPs in the spending of taxpayers’ money, to ensure it is spent wisely, noting that a lot of public money has been spent lavishly in the past, such as on the decoration of the parliament building.

Parit went on to say that he would like the new House speaker to ensure that charter-mandated independent organisations are truly independent and free from political interference.