Junta-appointed legislators are voting amid tight security on whether to impeach former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the parliamentary leadership of the Pheu Thai party which was removed from power by the military.
A three-fifths majority of the National Legislative Assembly will be necessary to formally impeach Yingluck over a central plank in her party’s platform, a rice subsidy program which became marred by waste and abuse.
READ: Yingluck slams impeachment vote
Also before the vote are former speakers of the senate and house, Nikom Wairatpanish and Somsak Kiatsuranon, for leading a parliamentary bid to restructure the senate to a fully elected body.
Voting was scheduled to begin at 10am. Politlcal observers believe the impeachment vote is likely to pass. If it does, those impeached will be banned from politics for five years.
Yingluck stridently defended her policies on Thursday, urging members to approach the vote with fairness without being “guided by anyone.”
“There is no position to remove me from as the Constitutional Court has already removed me as prime minister,” she said to the assembly, arguing it doesn’t make sense to impeach her for violating a constitution that hasn’t existed since the junta took power.
Yingluck defended the rice scheme as necessary relief for impoverished citizens in rural areas, who otherwise see little benefit of the government’s largesse.
“I am not corrupt, I was never careless,” she said.
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