Parliament extended to sunday

Earlier, the opposition lodged a protest over the government whips' proposal to allow the first day of the censure debate to continue until 7.30am today.

Opposition chief whip Sathit Wongnongtoei had described the proposal as an attempt to play political games.

Sathit said the government whips yesterday proposed that the end of the first day of debate be extended from midnight to 7.30am.

"That's beyond expectation and we are worried," Sathit said. "We urge the government whips to review this proposal. It's beyond human ability to continue a debate overnight. And no one will continue watching the broadcast. Please don't play games to create problems for the censure debate."

Government chief whip Samart Kaewmeechai said the initial plan would call for the first day of debate to begin at 1.30pm and end at 7.30am the next day, and to resume at 9.30 am until midnight today (Wednesday).

He said the schedule was part of an attempt to manage time in order to allow enough time to debate the Budget Bill before the current extraordinary parliamentary session ends on Saturday.