Venue change against the rules : Pheu Thai

Pheu Thai claims the move, which enabled MPs from the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to avoid a mob of red-shirt protesters, contravened the constitution.

The government yesterday delivered the policy speech to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate at the Foreign Ministry as the anti-government Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) continued to block entry to parliament.

Pheu Thai MP Prakiart Nasima said delivering the policy speech outside parliament was against Article 88 of the constitution |and parliamentary meeting regulations.

"Speech delivery outside the parliament is against the rules, and the norm and tradition of Thai democracy," he said.

"We want to inform the international community since internal mechanisms cannot handle the situation."

The opposition party also plans to ask the Constitution Court to nullify the policy speech session. However, many pro-government academics doubted there was a legal basis to challenge the switch in venue.

Former constitution drafter Komsan Phokong, from Sukhothai-Thammathirat University, doubted that the Constitution Court would be able to rule against the move.

"The constitution does not bar the government from delivering the speech outside the parliament building," he said.

Thammasat University's Dean of Law Faculty Somkid Lertpaitoon said the President of Parliament had authority to move the meeting venue in case of emergencies. The President could also call the meeting with short notice in advance during a state of emergency, said Somkid, who helped draft the last charter.

Deputy House Speaker Apiwan Wiriyachai insisted his party would submit the case to the Constitution Court as they felt it was misconduct to move the meeting venue without consent of all parliamentarians.

The President of Parliament should make the appointment for meetings in writing, he said, claiming that notice of meeting appointments via short message phone-notes was against the rules.

"The Constitution makes clear that norm and tradition apply for the matters not written in the charter," Apiwan said. "This was the first time we have conducted a meeting against the norm and law," he said.

Yasothon MP Piraphan Parusuk said President Chai Chidchob broke regulations by only giving an hour's notice of the change in venue for the meeting when he should make appointments for meetings three days in advance.

Prime Minister Abhisit said he saw nothing wrong with the move as the President of the Parliament had authority to convene the meeting when and where he deemed appropriate.

Nikom Viratpanich, Vice President of the Senate, also said the meeting for the policy speech was legal as long as they met requirements for a quorum (the number of MPs needed before such a meeting is deemed official).