"From now on, there will be no us versus them at the NLA," Meechai insisted on assuming his speakership yesterday.

He thanked the NLA members for their confidence in him and vowed to perform his duties with honesty and fairness.

During his first meeting as speaker, he supervised a non-contested vote for the NLA to meet twice a week, on Wednesday and Thursday. One session will be devoted to legislative work and the other to focus on queries lodged with the interim government.

The meeting then proceeded to appoint a 15-member panel to draft the NLA meeting procedures. The draft is expected to be completed in 15 days.

Newly-appointed panel member Wallop Tangkhananurak, said his panel would convene its first meeting on Monday. The draft procedures will be modelled after those used by the House and the Senate and should be ready for deliberation before November 10, he added.

The NLA decided to postpone its vote to appoint various committees pending the completion of the procedures draft.

The delay was attributed to uncertainty as to whether the NLA should have 15 committees in line with precedents from the House and the Senate. The drafting panel on procedures was slated to resolve the issue.

Before closing the meeting, the speaker urged NLA members to refrain from airing their views about the upcoming committee appointments ahead of the formal debate in the chamber.

"NLA members should rest assured that they will have their say on the allocation of committee seats and be advised not to draw any hasty conclusions," he said, alluding to criticism that the committee appointments might be plagued by nepotism or other forms of favouritism.