House meeting adjourned following opposition’s quorum check

House of Representatives adjourned after opposition calls for quorum check on the first day of the new parliamentary session.

The meeting of the House of Representatives on the first day of the new parliamentary session on Thursday had to be adjourned after the opposition called for a quorum check.

Deputy House Speaker Pichet Chuamuangphan adjourned the meeting shortly after it was opened when he realised that the present MPs did not meet the quorum.

The first ordinary session of Parliament for 2025 began on Thursday, with the House scheduled to deliberate a report from the Thai Media Fund.

This was the first test of the coalition’s strength after the second-largest coalition partner, the Bhumjaithai Party, pulled out, leaving the coalition with a slim majority, compared to the overwhelming majority it had previously.Currently, there are 494 MPs, so the quorum requires 247 present MPs.



After the House acknowledged the royal decree declaring the start of the new parliamentary session, Akkara Thongjaisod, a Palang Pracharath MP from Phetchaburi, proposed a quorum check.

Pheu Thai MP Watcharapol Khaokham (Udon Thani), who is the coalition whip secretary, proposed that Pichet check the quorum by a roll-call to buy time for coalition MPs to attend the meeting.

Democrat MP Karn Tungpong (Trang) then proposed that Pichet wait for MPs to return from House committees’ meetings before continuing.
 As a result, Pichet ordered the coalition whips to call their parties’ MPs to attend the meeting, giving them 15 minutes before conducting the quorum check.

When the time expired, Pichet pressed the buzzer to signal MPs to be ready for the quorum check. However, after calculating with his eyes, Pichet believed that the number of present MPs still did not meet the quorum and announced the meeting's adjournment.

“Today is the first day of the meeting, so that’s it,” Pichet said, closing the meeting.

(2025/07/03-00:00)