The News
Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday voted unanimously to dissolve the popular progressive Move Forward Party and banned some of its leaders from politics for 10 years.
In its ruling, the country’s highest court said the party violated the constitution by campaigning to change Thailand’s controversial lèse-majesté laws, which ban criticism of the royal family. The Move Forward Party won the most votes in Thailand’s elections last year, but was prevented from forming a government.
The verdict was expected — the court is considered a bastion of the monarchy’s conservative interests and it has similarly dismantled 34 other political parties in the past two decades.
SIGNALS
Democracy struggles in Thailand
Thailand’s democracy is defined by a struggle between “its powerful conservative-royalist establishment, backed by the military, and parties with mass appeal” like the MFP, Reuters wrote. The military’s history of interfering with politics stretches into the last century, a Washington Post columnist noted. In the last 20 years, there has been an increase in attempts to change that dynamic, but also an intensification in the establishment’s attempt to control dissent. The court’s ruling deals a further blow to democracy, a political scientist wrote in Nikkei Asia: “Power clearly does not reside with the Thai electorate but with the military, monarchy, judiciary, and privileged sections of the bureaucracy and big business who ultimately call the shots.”
Verdict could have negative consequences internationally
The court’s decision puts Thailand “in a bad light” globally, the editorial board of The Bangkok Post argued. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, condemned the verdict as an attempt to stifle civil liberties, and called for the country to change the lèse-majesté laws to preserve democracy. US Sen. Ben Cardin, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Thailand’s foreign minister before the verdict came down to warn that dissolving the MFP would disenfranchise Thai voters. “This action threatens to undermine Thailand’s commitment to democracy and human rights, shared values that have anchored our bilateral partnership for over 190 years,” the letter said.
Ruling could backfire
The MFP’s dissolution could have unintended political consequences, The Diplomat noted. The party appealed to young people disillusioned by the monarchy’s conservative rule and the court’s 2020 decision to dismantle MFP’s precursor, the Future Forward Party. It also appealed to other sections of Thai society fed up with Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army officer who led a coup in 2014 and was prime minister until 2023, The Guardian added. One of MFP’s former leaders told the Financial Times that he hoped the ruling will result in “turbocharging” calls for change. In 2020, there were protests after Future Forward was dissolved, but even if there are no demonstrations this time, “[young people] are not going to change their minds,” an expert said.