The Constitutional Court of Thailand Rules to Dissolve the Main Opposition Party, the Move Forward Party

On August 7, 2024, the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled to dissolve the main opposition party, the Move Forward Party. The reason for the ruling is that the party attempted to amend "Article 112" in the Thai law regarding the offense against the monarchy.

During the 2023 general election, the Move Forward Party and its leader, Pita, proposed a campaign policy to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Law. On January 31 this year, the Constitutional Court had already ruled that this political platform was an act of subverting the state power, and the Move Forward Party was required to stop implementing it. In this latest ruling, members of the executive committee of the Move Forward Party, including Pita, may face a ban from participating in politics for 10 years.

The Move Forward Party is quite popular in Thailand, with its main supporters being the youth group. Pita previously stated that plans have been made for inheriting the party's power and forming a new one, and encouraged supporters to "not give in, not lose hope, and stay angry".

It's worth noting that the predecessor of the Move Forward Party, the Future Forward Party, was also dissolved in 2020 for "violating campaign funding regulations", which then triggered large-scale street protests, and many of its leaders were banned from politics for 10 years.

Legal expert Jed Donavanik said that many dissolved parties have found this not to be that significant. If the Move Forward Party is dissolved, there might be new parties waiting for its members outside the executive committee to join. The Pheu Thai Party, to which the current prime minister Srettha belongs, also has several predecessor parties that were dissolved in 2008 and 2007 respectively. The Constitutional Court of Thailand will deliver a verdict on a lawsuit against Prime Minister Srettha next week.