Bangkok’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday ( Jul 3 ) set the hearing date for a case requesting the dissolution of the popular opposition Move Forward, which holds 30 % of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
The court’s leader stated this week that a ruling may be rendered in the case before September.
The opposition party’s event is the result of a petition from the election commission to end Walk Forward’s campaign to change the imperial insult law, which forbids up to 15 years in prison for each perceived insult to the monarchy.
The Constitutional Court ruled in a separate case in January that claimed Move Forward’s attempt to change the imperial attack rules was a covert attempt to denigrate the monarchy.
The group was told to stop the campaign by the court, which included no more sanctions.
The Walk Forward group, which complied with the judge’s earlier decision, denied any wrongdoing and vowed to challenge the Election Commission’s case in court.
Move Forward received the most votes in the last general election on an anti-establishment platform, but liberal lawmakers and senators who were close allies with the nationalist military prevented the party from form a government.
The party is still popular with Thai voters, according to a recent poll of 2, 000 people conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration ( NIDA ) last month that showed a 49 % overall voter turnout.
The breakdown of Move Forward’s father group, Future Forward, in 2020 over a campaign cash violation was among the factors that triggered huge anti- government street protests.