Thai court orders major opposition party to disband over monarchy law

Chaithawat Tulathon, center, leader of the major opposition party Move Forward, and former head Pita Limjaroenrat, center left, hold a press conference in Bangkok on Aug. 7, 2024

Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the major opposition party Move Forward, saying that the party violated the Constitution by making an election pledge to amend a law against insulting the monarchy.

In response to an Election Commission petition for a dissolution order, the court also banned parliamentary members who served as the party’s executives during the 2023 election campaign from engaging in political activity for 10 years.

Move Forward, which won the most seats in the general election in May 2023, argued during the campaign that the lese majeste law that carries penalties of up to 15 years imprisonment has been used by the government to crack down on political dissent.

The party executives affected include its former leader Pita Limjaroenrat and current head Chaithawat Tulathon.

Over 100 other legislators from the party are expected to join a new successor party to be set up following the dissolution.

At the time of the election, Pita led the party to win support from young voters for its election pledges, which also included revoking military conscription. However, he failed to become Thailand’s prime minister due to opposition in parliament to those pledges.

The party’s predecessor, Future Forward Party, was ordered to dissolve in 2020 over accepting illicit funds, and its executives were banned from engaging in political activity for 10 years.

Wednesday’s ruling followed the same court’s decision in January that the election pledge, deemed an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, was unconstitutional, in a lawsuit filed by a conservative activist.