Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolves progressive Move Forward party

This is the same fate inflicted in February 2020 on its predecessor, the Future Forward party. Dropping its proposed amendment to the lèse-majesté law was not enough. Pheu Thai, which is currently part of the ruling coalition, also risks being sidelined by a ruling involving its leader, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) – Once again, Thailand has shown its inability to evolve democratically, using the need to shield the monarchy from threats and insults as a tool of repression.

This afternoon, the Thai Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the Election Commission’s request to dissolve the pro-reform Move Forward party, which won the last elections by proposing changes to the infamous lèse-majesté legislation

Coming under pressure, the dropped six months ago but that was not enough. Not only will the party cease to exist under its current name, like its predecessor Future Forward, dissolved by the court in February 2020, but the eleven members of its executive committee will be unable to participate in political life for the next ten years. This includes its leader, 43-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat.

This is a hard blow to the pro-reform movement, which is strong in the urban electorate and among youth voters.

In the National Assembly, Move Forward’s 143 MPs are in the opposition after the party was sidelined by a deal between two previously rival parties, Pheu Thai, which is close to the family of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the pro-military and pro-monarchy Palang Pracharath.

Now, the Pheu Thai party risks a political reversal if the incumbent prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, is removed from office on 14 August, again by order of the Constitutional Court, based on a petition filed by 40 former right-wing senators who claim that Srettha Thavisin abused his constitutional powers by appointing as a minister a lawyer with a prior conviction.

If this happens, the coalition government would be split with the risk of Pheu Thai’s ouster from the governing coalition in favour of parties linked to the right-wing establishment.

In turn, this is likely to revive social tensions in a country where pro-democracy groups have been repressed for the past 20 years, where election results have been overturned, where coups d'état and judicial activism have frustrated voters in their attempts to change things.

• thailand
• constitutional court
• move forward party
• dissolution
• pro-reform
• democracy