Senate no-shows at PM vote had good excuses: speaker

The upper house president said this morning that the 30-plus senators who did not attend last week’s session to select the prime minister were being threatened and harassed despite having perfectly good excuses.

Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said in a session this morning that he learned the people had threatened and invaded the family privacy of senators who failed to appear at Thursday’s vote or did not support the winner of May’s election, Move Forward Party’s Pita Limjaroenrat.

Anger was widespread last week after 43 members of the unelected upper house didn’t bother voting, while most of their colleagues voted against or abstained from voting for Pita to become prime minister. Thirty-three were no-shows; another 10 present did not record a vote.

Pita’s bid fell 52 votes short of the majority needed for the top political job. The 199 abstentions counted…