Thailand's Constitutional Court orders dissolution of main opposition party

In Thailand Constitutional Court Command The main progressive opposition party, the Kao Klai Let’s Move Forward Party, was dissolved. The court also ruled that members of the party’s executive committee will not be able to engage in politics for the next 10 years. They include Chethawat Tulathon, the current leader of Kao Klai, and Pita Limjarwornat, a former prime ministerial candidate who won the May 2023 election but was barred from taking office by the country’s ruling military junta.

The ruling was highly anticipated and was decided unanimously by the judges, but they cannot be considered completely independent: like other non-parliamentary bodies in Thailand – the Election Commission or the Anti-Corruption Commission, for example – the members of the court (and therefore the judges) are appointed by the Senate, which is very loyal to the monarchy. From 2014 to 2019, it was under the direct control of the military junta that ruled the country, and to this day it is mainly made up of parliamentarians linked to a royalist party. Since 2006, the Thai Constitutional Court has ordered the dissolution of 34 parties, including the party from which Khao Klai was born, Ai Phak Ankhut Mai, the New Future Party, which was dissolved in 2020 amid massive protests, especially among young people and students.

The charge against Khao Klai and his representatives is that they violated the constitution because during the election campaign they proposed amending the lese majeste law, one of the world’s toughest. Since 2020, at least 262 people have been charged with insulting the monarchy in Thailand, a country where any statement deemed insulting to the king or the monarchy can be punished by up to 15 years in prison. Khao Klai’s party had said it wanted to change the lese majeste law to prevent abuses by the authorities, not to question the king’s role as head of state, but the court nevertheless found the party guilty of attempting to undermine the system of government and destroy the constitutional monarchy.

It is not clear what will happen now: the court ruling could generate widespread opposition among progressive voters, especially young people living in big cities, but it is unlikely to have major practical consequences. Under Thai law, MPs from a dissolved party, as in this case, can remain in office if they join a new party within 60 days, otherwise they will lose their posts. This means that, with the exception of the executive committee members who are banned from politics for the next 10 years, the other 143 MPs will be able to keep their seats and reorganize themselves, as happened in 2020 after the New Future Party was dissolved.

– Read also: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra accused of insulting the monarchy