Democratic Party Teams With People's Party to File Constitutional Court Challenge Against 400-Billion-Baht Loan Decree, Submission on May 11-12
The People's Party and Democratic Party plan to challenge Thailand's 400-billion-baht loan decree at the Constitutional Court, arguing the government is disguising a blank check for energy restructuring within pandemic relief funding. The p
At 2 PM on May 7, 2025, at Parliament, Nattapong Ruangpanya, list MP and leader of the People's Party, along with Sirikanya Tansakul, list MP and deputy party leader, and legal advisor Thira Sutheevarangkul, announced the party's position on the government's plan to issue a 400-billion-baht loan decree. Nattapong stated that the party's morning meeting found the government was attempting to disguise a blank check for 2 billion baht for energy transition restructuring by bundling it with pandemic relief funds—despite energy transition actually requiring years to implement. He questioned whether the 2 billion baht loan meets the constitutional requirement that borrowing must address economic conditions. The People's Party is ready to use its legislative authority to file the petition, which it will draft itself to avoid overextending the court's jurisdiction. While welcoming participation from the Democratic Party and other opposition parties, the party emphasized careful consideration. Nattapong acknowledged concerns about whether all relief recipients genuinely suffered hardship, as the government claims, questioning the government's earlier targeted relief messaging. The petition must be submitted by May 11-12 to comply with the constitutional requirement of filing before Parliament's May 14 approval. Deputy leader Sirikanya questioned the logic of distributing relief to 30 million people if everyone truly suffered equally, suggesting universal rather than random distribution would be appropriate.
