The Constitutional Court has set a fresh deadline of May 18 for parties in a group dissolution case.
PUBLISHED: 1 May 2024 at 18: 36
The opposition Move Forward Party ( MPF ) received a 15-day extension from the Constitutional Court’s deadline for filing a written defense in the party’s dissolution lawsuit. May 18 is the new date.
The classic date was April 18 but the group requested a 30- time improvement. The prosecutor originally approved just 15 times, or until May 3, which Move Forward claimed was unsatisfactory to collect all the supporting documentation to fight the complaint filed by the Election Commission (EC ).
Because of its stated intention to amend Section 112 or the controversial imperial defamation law, the court on April 3 accepted a complaint from the poll-organization asking for Move Forward’s dissolution.
If a group has proof of an act that the King is the head of state and is seen as unfriendly to the political regime, the EC has the authority to introduce dissolution under Section 92 of the Political Parties Act.
The EC was responding to a Jan. 31 Constitutional Court decision that determined that the Move Forward legislation aimed to destroy the constitutional king. The group was ordered to stop all public support for adjustments to the Lese-majeste Law.
The judges pointed to the previous actions of Pita Limjaroenrat, the group’s former head, as well as those of various members, including applications to give bail for suspects in der- majeste cases.
After party leader Chaithawat Tulathon stated at a meeting on Tuesday that he believed the court would likely approve the extension, the court’s decision on Wednesday was good news for the organization.
Move Forward won the May 14, 2023, election with 151 House seats but was unable to form a coalition with the Pheu Thai Party, which had a lead. The latter claimed that as long as amending Section 112 remained a fundamental policy of Move Forward, it would be impossible to win the support of the unelected Senate.
However, Move Forward refused to budge and Pheu Thai went ahead to form a new coalition. Move Forward now leads the opposition.
Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party, was dissolved in 2020 by the charter court following an EC complaint about a campaign finance violation.