Thai court orders election-winning party to dissolve in major blow to kingdom’s popular progressive movement

(CNN) — A Thai court on Wednesday ordered the kingdom’s most popular political party to be disbanded, a verdict that delivers a major blow to a vibrant progressive movement and one that threatens to bring more political turbulence to Thailand.

The Move Forward Party won a stunning electoral victory in 2023, winning the most parliamentary seats on an anti-establishment reform agenda that drew huge support across the country, particularly among young people disaffected by years of military-backed rule.

The Constitutional Court in Bangkok ruled Wednesday that Move Forward should be dissolved, following a request from Thailand’s Election Commission, over the party’s campaign to amend lese majeste, the country’s notoriously strict royal insult law.

In its unanimous ruling, the court accused Move Forward of “undermining the monarchy” and so “the constitutional court has to inevitably disband the party.”

In January, the same court ordered the party to end its lese majeste campaign, accusing its leaders, including former prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat, of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.

Wednesday’s ruling goes further, dissolving the party and banning its executives from politics for 10 years – effectively disenfranchising 14 million people who voted for them and raising fresh concerns about the erosion of democratic rights in the kingdom.

Move Forward’s leaders have repeatedly said that dissolution will not stop their movement. Speaking to the Associated Press this week, Pita said they will continue to fight so that Move Forward “becomes the last party that joins the graveyard of political parties.”

It’s the first of two high-profile, politically sensitive cases with the potential to further entrench a power struggle between the establishment and progressives. Next week, the court is expected to rule on a petition seeking to remove Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office for appointing a lawyer who had served jail time to the Cabinet.

Crushing blow

Move Forward’s election victory was a decisive win for progressive parties and delivered a crushing blow to the conservative, military-backed establishment that has ruled Thailand on and off for decades, often by turfing out popularly elected governments in coups.

Ultimately Move Forward was prevented from forming a government because it failed to win enough support for its royal reform agenda in parliament, which heavily favors the establishment under a political system implemented by the previous ruling military junta.

Pita resigned as leader of the party, which became the main opposition.

Thailand’s turbulent political history has previously seen parties that have pushed for change run afoul of the powerful establishment – a nexus of the military, royalist and influential elites.

The purportedly independent election commission, anti-corruption commission and the Constitutional Court are all dominated in favor of the establishment.

During the election, young people told CNN they felt they were the “forgotten generation” living under military-backed rule for nine years, while they struggled to find work or buy a home. “We just can’t see our future in this country,” one young lawmaker said.

Wednesday’s ruling will likely only further entrench the feeling for many young supporters that there is little hope for change within Thailand’s political system.

Progressive lawmakers have faced bans, parties have been dissolved, and governments have been overthrown. Thailand has witnessed a dozen successful coups since 1932, including two in the past two decades.

It’s the second time the court has ordered the dissolution of parties linked to Move Forward’s progressive movement.

Move Forward is the de facto successor to the Future Forward Party, which won the third most number of seats in the 2019 election. Shortly after the vote, Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved that party and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years.

That brought millions of young people out onto the streets across the country – sparking a nationwide youth-led protest movement in 2020 that saw the emergence of a new generation of young political leaders, many who openly criticized the monarchy and publicly questioned its power and wealth.

Lese majeste here to stay

The ruling could now ensure that no party or person would legally be able to push for amendments to lese majeste, known as Section 112, without violating the constitution.

The calls for reform of the monarchy electrified Thailand, where any frank discussion of the royal family is fraught with the threat of prison.

Criticizing the king, queen, or heir apparent can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence for each offense and sentences for those convicted Section 112 of the country’s criminal code can be decades long.

Hundreds of people have been prosecuted in recent years including Mongkol Thirakhot, who was sentenced to a record 50 years in prison in January for social media posts deemed damaging to the king.

Anyone – including ordinary citizens – can bring lese majeste charges on behalf of the king, even if they are not directly involved with the case. Move Forward pledged to reduce lese majeste sentences and limit who can make a complaint.

For years, human rights organizations and free speech campaigners have said the lese majeste law has been used as a political tool to silence critics of the Thai government.

Many of those who took part in the protests now face lese majeste charges and long jail sentences.

Legal Rights group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said that at least 1,954 people have been prosecuted for their participation in political assemblies since the start of protests in July 2020, with at least 272 people charged with lese majeste.

Prominent activist lawyer Arnon Nampa is currently serving eight years in prison for two lese majeste convictions.

In May, the death of a young Thai activist in pre-trial detention for lese majeste charges shocked many in the country and sparked renewed calls for justice reform.

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