Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, who targeted the party and its former leader last year, will have another go
PUBLISHED : 31 Jan 2024 at 18:53
Petitioner Ruangkrai Leekitwattana says he is preparing to go to the Election Commission on Thursday to seek the dissolution of the Move Forward Party.
He made the comment after the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that the main opposition party’s proposal to amend the lese-majeste law amounted to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. It ordered the party to cease all such efforts.
Mr Ruangkrai, a member of the Palang Pracharath Party, petitioned the EC twice last year to disband Move Forward over its attempts to amend Section 112. But the commission rejected them both on the grounds that the party’s actions in themselves were not grounds for dissolution under electoral law, so it could not proceed with a case.
Mr Ruangkrai is also the person who filed the complaint with the EC about former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s ownership of shares in a media business. The Constitutional Court dismissed that complaint last week.
Now that the court has ruled that Move Forward’s proposal to amend Section 112 represents an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, Mr Ruangkrai says he has a case he can bring before the poll body.
The action as characterised by the court represents a breach of Section 92 of the Political Parties Act. Therefore, the EC must accept the petition to consider dissolving the party, he said.
Section 92 states that after obtaining credible evidence that a party has committed an act deemed hostile to the constitutional monarchy, the EC must propose the dissolution of the party to the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court in 2020 ordered the dissolution of the Future Forward Party, the predecessor of Move Forward, over a loan it accepted from its leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
The party was reborn as Move Forward under Mr Pita, and won more votes, 14.4 million, and seats, 151, in the general election last May. But it was unable to form a government because unelected Senators opposed its stand on the royal defamation law.