Thailand on Wednesday dealt a new blow to hopes for reform and modernisation. The Constitutional Court voted unanimously to dissolve the main opposition party, Move Forward, over its attempts to reform laws that protect the all-powerful royal family from criticism. The court believes that the proposed change to the law endangers the constitutional monarchy, as it attempts to make democracy appear incompatible with a king as head of state, according to the ruling. Move Forward was the winning party in the general elections in May 2023, but the Senate – controlled by the conservative military junta that ruled between 2014 and 2019 – vetoed the appointment of its popular leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, as prime minister. Human rights organisations fear that the ruling will deepen political divisions and threaten freedoms in a country marked by decades of instability and military domination.
After hearing the verdict, Pita said that his party “has no intention of committing treason, insurrection or separating the monarchy from the country.” Chaithawat Tulathon, who heads the party after Pita was banned, said in a press conference that the court decision “has set a dangerous precedent in the interpretation of the Constitution.”
The ruling bans both leaders for the next 10 years, along with nine other senior party officials. Their offence: holding an executive position within the party while campaigning to amend Article 112 of the Civil Code, which punishes anyone who defames the king, queen or heir with between three and 15 years in prison. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been on the throne for seven years and is enshrined in the Constitution as a “revered cult”.
Move Forward has already announced that it will form a new party this week. The other 143 lawmakers with seats in parliament are allowed to transfer to another registered party within 60 days and, if they all join, would form the largest group in the lower house. They would then be able to continue to oppose and try to promote a progressive agenda, including military reform and breaking up big business monopolies. However, the verdict is a reminder of how far Thailand’s institutions are willing to go to preserve the power and status of the monarchy.
Move Forward’s reformist agenda and the charisma of its 43-year-old leader have enchanted millions of voters fed up with the political instability that has marked the past two decades in this Southeast Asian country of nearly 72 million people. In the 2023 general election, Pita’s party won 151 of the 500 seats in the lower house, the most of any party. Move Forward has insisted that it does not seek to overthrow the monarchy, but rather to keep it from becoming involved in politics and from being manipulated in partisan ways. But senators, who were given the power to veto prime ministerial candidates under the 2017 constitution, rejected Pita’s nomination as a challenge to the military, the royal family and elites.
The Move Forward case is not an isolated one. In 2020, the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of its predecessor, Future Forward, on charges of having received an illegal loan. That party obtained unexpected results in the 2019 elections, the first that Thailand had held in eight years, after five years of rule by a military junta. The decision triggered massive pro-democracy protests, which were led by a new generation of student activists. They demanded, for the first time, that the monarchy be held accountable.
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Human rights activists and NGOs have since denounced that authorities have made extensive use of the lese majeste law to prosecute hundreds of protest leaders and to criminalise peaceful activism. More than 270 people, including minors, were charged with violating it following the demonstrations.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Director General, Deprose Muchena, criticized the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Wednesday, calling it “an unsustainable decision that reveals the authorities’ total disregard for Thailand’s international human rights obligations.” Muchena also urged “to stop using laws to intimidate and harass critics, human rights defenders and opposition politicians” and stressed that “legislators were simply fulfilling their duty to propose laws.”
The dissolution of Move Forward comes at a crucial time in Thai politics, with cracks in the fragile truce between the ruling party, the populist Pheu Thai, and the military-backed establishment becoming apparent. Indeed, Pheu Thai has traditionally borne the brunt of power struggles: four of its prime ministers were ousted by coups and court rulings, and three parties it inherited were dissolved by the courts. The situation is set to get even more complicated next week, when the Constitutional Court will decide on the future of the current prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, who is accused of appointing a lawyer with a criminal record to his Cabinet. If he is dismissed, parliament will have to vote on a new premier.
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