Thailand: The Thai National Assembly has passed an emergency decree to transfer two military units to King Vajiralongkorn for management, despite opposition opposition parliamentarians.

The decree was passed by parliament today with 366 votes in favor of 70 against against two abstentions. All votes against belonged to the MPs of the Towards Opposition Future.

The decree took effect on October 1, allowing the transfer of the command of the 1st and 11th Infantry Regiments based in Bangkok from the military to the Royal Security Command of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Although the decree was passed, a leader of the Future Party said it had improperly applied the emergency provisions of the constitution to bypass congressional approval. This is the first time Thai parliamentarians have publicly challenged a royal process.

Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, General Secretary of the Future-Looking Party, said there were no emergency situations that would justify the decree. He accused Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of continuing to act as a military government leader and declared the government to abide by the constitution.

Prayuth, who led the military in a 2014 coup, then took office as civilian prime minister in July, after his pro-army Palang Pracharath won the controversial election.

"Thailand is a kingdom with the king as the highest head of state, the people have the right to vote and the king exercises that right through parliament, cabinet and court as prescribed in the constitution," he said. Piyabutr said.

However, Peerapan Saleerattavipak, a congressman in the Democratic Party, supported this decree. "Thailand is a special kingdom," Peerapan said. "The monarchy represents national security so in the Kingdom of Thailand, we should not separate these two issues."

King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in May as Thailand's fourth constitutional monarch after his father died in 2016. In July 2017, the military-appointed legislative council amended the law in 1936. to give the king full control of the Royal Property Department, which manages billions of dollars of royal property of Thailand. It also passed a lien law, which imposed a prison sentence of up to 15 years for those who offended the king or the royal family.