BANGKOK, 16 May 2013 — According to Mr. Robert Amsterdam, an attorney of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has put Thailand’s political situation under its close watch.
The statement came during a press conference yesterday made by Mr. Amsterdam and former Pheu Thai Party List member Mr. Jatuporn Prompan on the possibility of returning the MP status to the latter. The IPU on March 28 issued a resolution asking the Thai Constitutional Court to reconsider its decision to revoke Mr. Jatuporn’s MP status. The IPU termed the court’s decision denying a temporary release of Mr. Jatuporn in order to allow him to vote on the 2011 general election as simply unreasonable.
Mr. Robert expressed his opinions that Thailand’s constitution needs amendments, citing several of its articles to have tendencies to violate human, citizen and political rights. He said that the IPU’s intervention to seek the return of MP status to Mr. Jatuporn was based on the same reason.
The UDD attorney added the IPU was worried about the current political situation in Thailand, particularly a tension between Parliament and the Constitutional Court, in which it claimed that the court was interfering with the parliament’s work.
He said that the IPU has sent representatives to observe the situation in Thailand, adding that it usually intervenes when finding any organization is not working to support the democratic system.
