A court in Thailand on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the Move Forward Party, which finished first in last year’s general election, saying it contravened the constitution by proposing an amendment of a law against defaming the country’s royal family.
The Thai Constitutional Court said it voted unanimously to dissolve the party because its campaign proposal to amend the law amounted to an attempt to overthrow the nation’s constitutional monarchy.
The Move Forward Party was unable to form a government after topping the polls because members of the Thai Senate, at that time a military-appointed body, refused to endorse its candidate for prime minister.
Photo: Bloomberg
The Thai Election Commission had filed a petition against the party after the court in January ruled that it must stop advocating changes to the law, known as Article 112, which protects the monarchy from criticism with penalties of up to 15 years in jail per offense.
Move Forward has said that it wants to keep the monarchy above politics and not be exploited as a political tool.
The court on Wednesday also imposed a 10-year ban on political activity for those who held the party’s executive positions while it campaigned for the proposed amendment. Among them are its former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, and current leader Chaithawat Tulathon.
Speaking to supporters and the media on Wednesday evening, Limjaroenrat said although he had to say goodbye as a politician, he looks forward to continuing his work as a citizen.
People might be frustrated today, but they should vent their frustration at the ballot box in every election from now on, he said.
He added that he was “absolutely proud” of what he had achieved and had no regrets.
“I have left my dent in the universe. And I’ll make sure that I pass the baton to the next-generation leaders,” he said.
Lawmakers of a dissolved political party who are not banned from politics can keep their seats in parliament if they move to a new party within 60 days.
Limjaroenrat said that party members would carry on “in a new vehicle” to be introduced today, although he would not be a part of it.
The party declined to announce details of the changeover.
Move Forward had 148 lawmakers in parliament. If they all move together, they would lose five seats belonging to the now-banned party executives.
“We’re going to stick to the same path. A political party is only a vehicle, so let’s wait and see the new party to which the MPs will be going,” said Attaphon Buaphat, who gathered with other party supporters at its headquarters in Bangkok. “You can get rid of the agents, the representatives for these people’s beliefs, but you are not going to be able to get rid of the beliefs.”
‘INTRUSIONS’: The ‘Global Times’ reported that Thitu Island in the Spratlys group is ‘illegally occupied’ by the Philippines, which is expanding military infrastructure on it The Philippines could “stir up trouble” at yet another “Chinese” island in the South China Sea, China’s state-backed Global Times reported late on Thursday, after what it said were Manila’s “provocative intrusions” into waters at two other reefs in the region. The Philippines is expanding military infrastructure on Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, to potentially invite warships and warplanes from countries outside of the region such as the US and Japan, sabotaging peace and stability in the South China Sea, the newspaper reported, citing Chinese experts. Thitu Island is “illegally occupied”
China and Vietnam yesterday inked 14 documents spanning cross-border railways to crocodile exports after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with new Vietnamese leader To Lam in Beijing. The Vietnamese president’s visit to Beijing, his first overseas trip since becoming the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam earlier this month, signals a desire between the two communist neighbors to strengthen ties, amid growing trade and investment, despite occasional clashes over boundaries in the South China Sea. “China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and supports Vietnam in adhering to the party leadership, taking the socialist
A former Saudi Arabian official alleged in a report that the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s years-long, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published yesterday by the BBC, but the kingdom has described him as “a discredited former government official.” Al-Jabri, a former Saudi Arabian intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been a years-long dispute with the kingdom as
‘SON OF GOD’: Quiboloy was in 2021 indicted by US prosecutors for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and ‘damnation’ Hundreds of police officers backed by riot squads yesterday raided a vast religious compound in a southern Philippine city in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking, police officials said. A supporter of the group, called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, reportedly died due to a heart attack during the massive police raid that started at dawn in the group’s compound in Davao City, livestreamed online by a local TV network owned by the group, police said, adding that the death was not related to the police operations. Officers brought equipment that could detect people behind cement walls,