Abhisit insists that borrowing 200 billion baht will not achieve energy transition as the government claims. He urges the government to reconsider disqualifying state welfare cardholders because their descendants use the benefits to reduce taxes. He is preparing to meet the Constitutional Court to seek clarity on constitutional amendments related to this issue.
On 5 June 2026, Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, spoke about the opposition's progress regarding the 200 billion baht loan bill. He said that legally, they are awaiting the Constitutional Court's ruling, which is currently allowing involved parties to provide additional explanations. Although the government has tried to clarify, Abhisit believes their explanations are "still inaccurate." Despite discussing the problems, there is no clear link showing how the funds will solve the issues the government claims. The current economic security problems are not primarily about purchasing power, as confirmed clearly by the Bank of Thailand.
Abhisit added that investing the initial 200 billion baht does not address cost issues. In reality, many other methods could be used without borrowing money, especially concerning energy transition. He noted that relevant agencies already have budgets for this work and could expedite progress if desired. Importantly, the government’s later 200 billion baht projects cannot truly achieve the energy transition as claimed. This remains a legal problem unresolved. From visits to meet citizens, there are many complaints about the economy, even during the "Thai Help Thai Plus" economic stimulus, which has only provided limited relief. Many shops continue to suffer.
There is also an overlapping issue with the "state welfare card" (commonly called the 'poor card') policy, which is linked to tax filing. Abhisit said he has already debated in parliament that the Finance Minister repeatedly emphasized that assistance must be "targeted." However, in practice, this is contradicted. He believes everyone knows some fairly well-off people have entered this program, while the government is pursuing actual state welfare cardholders simply because their children use the money to support the family and claim tax deductions. The government is attempting to revoke their benefits and now forces a choice: either claim tax deductions or keep the welfare card.
These people belong to a vulnerable group, even more so than the 25 million people participating in other government programs. Abhisit urges the government to seriously reconsider because the current approach is not properly targeted. Worse, once these people lose their welfare cards, they cannot re-register for the "Thai Help Thai Plus" program because its registration period has closed. Journalists have noted this effectively punishes children for caring for their parents by causing their parents to lose benefits or face legal issues. Abhisit agrees and points out this problem stems from the government’s misdirected strict enforcement.
Abhisit also commented on conflicts within the coalition government over constitutional amendments. He said the amendment draft from the Pheu Thai Party, as far as he has seen, resembles a previously proposed draft, which Bhumjaithai Party had already approved in principle. However, this time objections arose, claiming that allowing the public to participate in selecting the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) would contradict the Constitutional Court’s ruling. In fact, the court only stated that "direct elections" are not allowed. Abhisit has not seen how Pheu Thai’s or other parties’ drafts involve direct elections. The Democrat Party uses electronic polls, so it should not have problems.
"As a member of the Parliamentary Committee on the Courts and Independent Organizations, we plan to visit the Constitutional Court to seek clarification on what exactly 'no direct election' means, which should help resolve this issue," Abhisit said.