Thailand's progressive Move Forward party might be dissolved, but its former chief remains hopeful

BANGKOK (AP) — The charismatic Thai politician who led his young, progressive party to a stunning general election victory a year ago is urging supporters not to lose hope, even if the party is disbanded by a legal order.

Thailand's Constitutional Court will rule Wednesday on whether the Move Forward Party violated the constitution by proposing to amend a law that forbids defaming the country’s royal family. A petition to the court requested the party’s dissolution and a 10-year ban on political activity by its executives, including former chief Pita Limjaroenrat.

Move Forward won the most seats in the 2023 election, but was blocked from taking power and now heads the opposition. Pita was denied the prime minister’s job by the military-installed Senate, a power it was given in the constitution adopted in 2017 under a military government.

The legal action has drawn widespread criticism as it’s seen as part of a yearslong attack against the country’s progressive movement by conservative forces trying to keep their grip on power. While Pita remains confident of the arguments that the party submitted to the court, he said in an interview with The Associated Press that he understands why people assume the party would be dissolved.

Pita, however, stands firm that Move Forward will continue to fight to prevent that phenomenon from being normalized in order to achieve a full democracy.

“We’re fighting this not just because of my personal future or my party’s future, but we want to make sure that, if it happens, that Pita becomes the last person. The Move Forward Party becomes the last party that joins the graveyard of political parties,” he said.

Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward party, was dissolved by a Constitutional Court ruling in 2020 for allegedly violating election laws on donations to political parties.

Thailand’s courts, especially the Constitutional Court, are considered a bulwark of the royalist establishment, which has used them and nominally independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.

The dissolution of Future Forward, whose promises of reforms were particularly attractive to the young generation disillusioned by yearslong military rule, further highlighted the struggle between the progressive movement and conservative forces in Thailand. It was one of the triggers for youth-led pro-democracy protests that sprung up across the country in 2020. They openly criticized the monarchy, an institution long considered a linchpin of Thai society and untouchable.

Insulting or defaming key royal family members is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under a law also known as lese majeste, and usually referred to as Article 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code. Those protests led to vigorous prosecutions under the law, which had previously been relatively rarely employed. Critics say the law is often wielded as a tool to quash political dissent.

Move Forward, formed as a new home to lawmakers of the dissolved Future Forward, campaigned for an amendment to the law in the 2023 election. That and the introduction of other democratic reforms carried over from its predecessor landed it in first place in the election, a victory indicating that many Thai voters were ready for change.

Pannapha Hatthavijit, a 27-year-old market vendor in Bangkok, has been a loyal supporter of Move Forward since it was still Future Forward because she wanted to see something new in Thai politics.

She said she could sense the party’s rising popularity from people around her, and to see thousands of the especially young crowds joining one of the party’s campaign rallies in Bangkok was “so invigorating” for her, so much so that she predicted the party’s victory that came as a surprise to many.

However, the party was denied power after the Senate, installed by a military government that ousted an elected government in 2014, refused to agree to its then-leader Pita’s selection as prime minister. Senators said they opposed Pita because of his intention to enact reforms to the royal defamation law. The party was later removed from a coalition formed with the now-ruling Pheu Thai party and is currently heading the opposition.

These developments show that Thailand is more of a “semi-autocratic country” than a democratic one, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

“It means that you can have an election and people can vote, but after that the results (are) manipulated and subverted to serve autocratic forces and establishment preferences,” he said.

When the party failed to become the government, Move Forward voter Pannapha said she was dispirited and she would be disappointed all the same if the party is dissolved or Pita is banned on Wednesday. But that will not be enough to kill off her hope for change.

“Move Forward is not Pita. Move Forward is us, the new generation,” she said. “It’s not over yet.”

That is the spirit that Pita would like his supporters to keep alive. He said, if necessary, the party will ensure a “smooth transition into a new house” or a new party for the rest of its non-executive lawmakers.

He said if the verdict does not come out in their favor, people can be frustrated. He said however that his ultimate goal is that they channel that anger into votes at the ballot box to ensure they eventually win the war, even if they lose this particular battle.

“If they get rid of the party, they get rid of me, but people are still hopeful and returning to the ballots every single time, more and more and more, I think that’s when they lose,” he said.

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