(Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s top constitutional judges will rule next month on whether to disband the nation’s largest opposition party, which is accused of breaking election rules over a campaign to amend a stringent royal defamation law.
The nine-member Constitutional Court will convene at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 7 to discuss its decision on the Move Forward Party and will read out a verdict from 3 p.m. in Bangkok, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The ruling will come more than a year after the party, which finished first in the elections, was blocked from forming a government by conservative lawmakers irked by its pledge to loosen the law protecting the monarchy from defamation.
The top court may also ban Move Forward’s party leadership from politics for 10 years, including Pita Limjaroenrat, a progressive politician and the group’s former leader who was initially in the running to become prime minister. Earlier this week, Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon urged the court to call for a trial and take time with witness testimonies in order to ensure fairness in a case with such a hefty penalty.
An unfavorable verdict for Move Forward, the nation’s most popular political party, may stir political unrest in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Thailand was rocked by anti-government protests and unprecedented calls to reform the monarchy in 2020 after Future Forward, a predecessor of Move Forward, was disbanded.
The court has received sufficient evidence and heard enough witnesses to conclude hearings and rule on the issue, it said in the statement. The party and its accuser, the country’s Election Commission, may request to submit their closing statements by July 24, the court said.
“It’s a shame that there would be no trial, because we believe there are factual issues that need to be resolved first,” Chaithawat told reporters on Wednesday. “However, we’re still confident in our legal defense.”
Move Forward’s flagship campaign to amend the lese majeste law, also known as Article 112 of the Thai penal code, was found by the charter court in January to be an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. The group was ordered to stop all attempts to amend the law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years of jail for each offense.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, at least 272 people, including 20 under the age of 18, were charged with the crime between November 2020 and May 2024.
The party’s pledge to reform the law resonated with young and urban voters, helping it sweep 40% of the popular votes in the general election in May last year. However, members of the military-appointed Senate and conservative parties want the laws to be left intact as they say the monarchy needs to protected at all costs as a matter of national security.
(Updates with comment from Move Forward Party in sixth paragraph.)
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