Thai court dissolves Move Forward Party
Thailand Constitutional Court announced the dissolution of the Move Forward Party (MFP) on Wednesday, with the top party officials banned from politics for 10 years for undermining the monarchy.
The verdict to dissolve the party, which came close to taking power in last year's general election but ultimately failed, is over their efforts to reform the lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Law.
Announcing their unanimous ruling at 3 pm on Wednesday, the nine judges said the party posed a threat to the constitutional monarchy and national security by continuously and seriously campaigning for the amendment of Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
During last year's general election, the party proposed to amend the law through many political activities and channels.
In April, the Election Commission of Thailand requested that the Constitutional Court should consider dissolving the party as they posed a threat to both the monarchy and the democratic form of government with the king as head of state.
According to the court, such attempts diminished the value of the royal institution, showed intention to abuse the royal institution for political gain in the general election, hurt people' s faith in the institution and affected national security, local media Bangkok Post reported.
"Expressions of opinion toward legal amendments and the vote campaigns posed significant threats to national security," it said.
In addition to the dissolution, the court imposed a 10-year ban on 11 members of the party's executives who held positions between March 25, 2021, and July 31 last year. The list includes the party leader Pita Limjaroenrat and the first Secretary-General of the party Chaithawat Tulathon, who is also the deputy leader.