Disunity costs Pheu Thai

Senior party figures said that eight to 10 MPs had failed to vote according to the party line.

Some of them said one obvious benefit of the vote was that it had shown which of the party MPs were not loyal to Pheu Thai.

All the targeted Cabinet members, except Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, obtained approval votes of 246 while the no-confidence votes ranged between 167 and 184. Kasit got the lowest confidence vote of 237.

And while abstentions for other targeted ministers totalled 12 each, Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul saw the highest figure of 20 and Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat 18.

Both Chaovarat and Boonjong are from the Friends of Newin faction, which has now become part of the coalition Bhum Jai Thai Party.

The other opposition party, Pracharaj, had made it clear that it did not support Pheu Thai's censure motion.

A dissident faction in the coalition Puea Pandin Party, which earlier said it would be "neutral" in the House, agreed yesterday to vote in support of the targeted Cabinet members, faction leader Pracha Promnok said after its meeting shortly before the House vote.

Lower-house members yesterday voted with their electronic ID cards, not by roll call.

MP Surapong Tovichakchaikul, one of the opposition speakers in the no-confidence debate, said yesterday that he was examining which of the Pheu Thai MPs had abstained during the voting on Chaovarat and Boonjong. He described their act as improper.

He said that when he knew their identities he would complain to Chalerm Yoobamrung, the party's chief MP, and ask him to talk to them. He said he would not call for any action against them but appeal to their consciences.

Surapong said it appeared these MPs remained with Pheu Thai only in name while their loyalty had shifted to another political party.

There has been speculation that a number of Pheu Thai MPs will defect to Bhum Jai Thai.

Sunai Jullapongsathorn, a senior Pheu Thai MP, described the voting on Chaovarat and Boonjong as "unnatural". He said the outcome pointed to "some kind of affection" between those MPs and their former colleagues in the Friends of Newin faction.

However, he said that he would not call them "rebels".

After Pheu Thai's predecessor People Power Party was disbanded by a court order, the larger part of the faction opted to support a new coalition led by the Democrat Party while a handful of faction members joined Pheu Thai in the opposition.

Apiwan Wiriyachai, another senior Pheu Thai MP, who serves as deputy House Speaker, said the "missing votes" of the 10 who did not support Pheu Thai's no-confidence motion was not completely unexpected.

He said he would not treat as them "rebels" as, according to the Constitution, it was their right to vote the way the liked.