Opposition party members prepare for possible court-ordered dissolution but won’t defect to existing parties
PUBLISHED : 1 Aug 2024 at 21:49
All MPs from the opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) will move to the little-known Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party if the Constitutional Court orders Move Forward dissolved next week, according to a source from the MFP.
The court is preparing to rule whether Move Forward should be dissolved for having violated Section 92 of the organic law on political parties, based on a complaint made by the Election Commission (EC) in March.
The poll agency cited the court’s earlier ruling on Jan 31 that the party’s efforts to change Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majeste law, reflected an intention to undermine the constitutional monarchy.
The EC also asked the court to ban the party’s executives from standing in future elections and prohibit them from registering or serving as executives of a new party for 10 years.
A deal has been sealed with the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party, which may change its name later, said the source.
The Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party was registered with the Election Commission several years ago and has 10,474 members, according to the latest available data on the EC website.
Its leader is Tul Tintamora and Alisa Sattayawirut is the deputy leader. All of the party’s current executives assumed their posts on April 5 this year. Its office is listed as being located at a housing estate in Thawi Watthana district of Bangkok.
The party fielded 13 candidates in the 2023 general election but did not win any seats.
Sirikanya Tansakun, the deputy leader of Move Forward, is expected to emerge as the new leader of the MPs gathered under the Thinkakhao Chaovilai banner, said the source, adding that a number of the MPs would then serve as the new party’s executives.
If Move Forward is dissolved at least 10 party executives, including chief adviser Pita Limjaroenrat and party leader Chaithawat Tulathon, will be banned from politics for 10 years, said the source.
When the Future Forward Party, the predecessor of Move Forward, was dissolved by the court in 2020, a number of its members defected to parties seen as political and ideological opponents of Future Forward.
But they lost their seats in last year’s general election, in what was seen by political analysts as punishment by their voters for betraying Future Forward.
This time, Move Forward MPs are determined not to make the same mistake, said the source.
While a number of party MPs might have been quietly liaising with political opponents, they dare not defect to those parties in the coalition government, said the source.