Crown Prince To Open National Assembly On 7 August

Members of the National Legislative Assembly register for their duties, 2 August 2014

BANGKOK – The junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly is set to officially open this Thursday.

According to the notice sent to NLA members today, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will chair the opening ceremony of the Assembly at Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok, where the first parliament of Thailand was housed in 1932. 

The first session of the NLA will take place at 9.30 am on the next day – 8 August – said Nornrat Pimsen, secretary-general of the NLA. 

The chairman and deputy chairman of the NLA will be appointed in the first session, Ms. Nornrat said. 

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All 200 members of the NLA were handpicked by the military junta's National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and endorsed by His Majesty the King on Thursday.

A majority of the assembly's members – 115 – are high-ranking male military and police officers, while the rest consists of bureaucrats, former politicians, business owners, and academics.

According to the junta's "road map" for Thailand's return to democracy, the NLA will function as the country's legislative arm for over a year, passing laws, appointing a Prime Minister and Cabinet, and amending the new Constitution, which will be drafted by a separate body. 

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