A Thai court has ordered the dissolution of the reformist party that won the most seats and votes in last year’s elections but was barred from forming a government.
The decision also banned Pita Limjaroenrat, the charismatic and youthful former leader of Move Forward, and 10 other prominent figures from politics for 10 years.
The verdict of the Constitutional Court was expected, after its January decision that Move Forward The campaign promise to change royal defamation laws was unconstitutional.
The court had said that any change to the notoriously harsh lèse-majesté law amounted to a call for the destruction of the constitutional monarchy.
Wednesday’s verdict is yet another stark reminder of the lengths to which unelected institutions are prepared to go to preserve the power and status of the monarchy.
But the move does not mean the end of the reform movement in Thai politics.
The 142 surviving Move Forward MPs are expected to transfer to another registered party and continue their role as the main opposition in parliament.
This is more or less a repeat of what happened in 2020, when the Future Forward party, which had also achieved unexpectedly good electoral results, was also dissolved and transformed into the Move Forward party.
That verdict, delivered four years ago, sparked massive street protests, led by a new generation of student activists, that lasted six months and voiced unprecedented demands for greater accountability from the monarchy.
Authorities have since made extensive use of the lese majeste law to prosecute hundreds of protest leaders, including some Move Forward lawmakers.
The law has been widely criticized for stifling freedom of expression in Thailand. In its manifesto, Move Forward had proposed less severe penalties – prison sentences have been extended to 50 years – and a more rigorous process for filing charges.
Reformers’ fears that Move Forward would not perform as well in last year’s election as Future Forward did in 2019 have proven unfounded.
The party defied expectations by surpassing all other parties to become the largest party in parliament, revealing a strong desire for change among Thai voters.
However, the military-appointed Senate blocked Move Forward from forming a government because of its lese majeste proposals, allowing a coalition of 11 more conservative parties to take power instead.
With so many activists in prison, in exile or fighting criminal charges, the large-scale protests seen in 2020 are much less likely today.
Even Move Forward’s very moderate proposals for a less severe lèse-majesté law led to the party being stripped of its top leaders, just as its previous incarnation, Future Forward, was four years ago.
And anyone considering organizing protests similar to those of four years ago knows that they too will be subject to the harsh penalties of lèse-majesté and several other radical laws in Thailand’s penal code.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court, which has dissolved 34 parties since 2006, has long been the main guardian of the conservative status quo. At the heart of this system is the monarchy, protected by a politically authoritarian military. Beyond that, power is wielded by palace officials, high-ranking judges, business tycoons, and unaccountable military and police officers.
Under the military-drafted constitution, the Senate plays a decisive role in appointing Constitutional Court judges and in the composition of other influential extra-parliamentary bodies such as the Electoral Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
The previous Senate was appointed by the military junta that ruled Thailand from 2014 to 2019 and rewrote the political landscape in which parties must operate today. It played a central role in preventing Move Forward from forming a government.
It’s unclear what to expect from the new Senate this year, but the peculiar electoral system allows only those seeking a Senate seat to vote for candidates in multiple rounds. This system, along with some murky backroom dealings, has resulted in a new Senate with 200 seats, most of which appear to be tied to a party known for its uncompromising loyalty to the monarchy.
