The Move Forward Party in Thailand is at risk of dissolution

[snoop1130]

 

The Move Forward Party (MFP), an opposition party in Thailand, is presently fighting a case in court to prevent the party from being dissolved. The Election Commission (EC) instigated the case, claiming the party was advocating for changes to Thailand's lese majeste law (Section 112 of the Criminal Code). According to the Political Parties Act (Section 92), the EC can propose that a political party be dissolved if it appears to threaten the democratic system headed by the King.

 

The court allowed the MFP until May 3 to prepare its defense, following the acceptance of the EC's proposal on April 3. However, the MFP asked for another 15-day extension on April 24.

 

Earlier this year, on January 31, the Constitutional Court judged that the MFP was undermining the constitutional monarchy by seeking to change the lese majeste law. As a result of the ruling, the MFP was ordered to stop all efforts to alter Section 112 via non-legislative means. The court determined the party's advocacy to be an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, drawing from the party's previous activities, including efforts to secure bail for lese majeste suspects. The court cited that 44 MFP MPs submitted a bill proposing the amendment of the Section 112 on March 25, 2021.

 

Deputy Party Leader, Police Major General Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, has stated that the MFP did not intend to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. He stressed that the party was carrying out its legislative duties as MPs while proposing the amendment. Despite halting attempts to change Section 112 as per the court order, Bhakdinarinath acknowledged the party's potential dissolution if the court continues its current course.

 

Supisarn Bhakdinarinath also expressed optimism towards the future of the party, predicting an increase in party MPs from 150 to 250 in the next elections.

 

Pattana Reonchaidee, a law lecturer at Ramkhamhaeng University, suggested that a swift ruling is likely, which might not bode well for the MFP. The same judges who ruled on the MFP's January case are expected to decide on the current one.

 

The MFP won 14.4 million votes and 151 seats in the House during the May 14 elections, reaching the highest vote count. Reonchaidee proposed that a dissolution of the party might garner sympathy and potentially lead to more votes for the MFP in the future. However, if the party is dissolved, its MPs must join new parties within 60 days, or they will lose their MP status.

 

Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP / Photo courtesy of The Thaiger

 

-- 2024-05-03

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[reefsurfah]

As predicted, TIT

[sammieuk1]

Do the people a favor and don't have any more elections, they are never ever going to get what they voted for 🤔 

[proton]

It's Thai democracy, or what passes for it that is at risk of dissolution. How they can have the nerve to disband a party which got the most votes last May is barely believable.

[ikke1959]

The army and elite will never accept a Government of the common people....In a next election and they have the majority ,,, the army will stage a coup again.. just to keep in power...Sadly situation for Thailand as there is more needed to stop these coups

[zhounan]

No problem, American dollars will be redirected to the next club.

[chickenslegs]

2 hours ago, proton said:

It's Thai democracy, or what passes for it that is at risk of dissolution. How they can have the nerve to disband a party which got the most votes last May is barely believable.

It's even worse. The leaders of the party will likely be banned from politics for at least 10 years, maybe even jailed - for suggesting that parliament should debate whether ancient LM laws should be adjusted for modern times.

 

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The Move Forward Party (MFP), an opposition party in Thailand, is presently fighting a case in court to prevent the party from being dissolved. The Election Commission (EC) instigated the case, claiming the party was advocating for changes to Thailand's lese majeste law (Section 112 of the Criminal Code). According to the Political Parties Act (Section 92), the EC can propose that a political party be dissolved if it appears to threaten the democratic system headed by the King.

What democratic system?

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, proton said:

It's Thai democracy, or what passes for it that is at risk of dissolution. How they can have the nerve to disband a party which got the most votes last May is barely believable.

But then remember where we are.... unbelievable things happen all the time.

One even walks among as as a prime example... rose from the ashes.

[Ben Zioner]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

the EC can propose that a political party be dissolved if it appears to threaten the democratic system headed by the King.

Thailand's oxymoronic system in a nutshell.

[mikebell]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

to threaten the democratic system

No sense of irony!  They eliminate all opposition in the name of the King.

[dinsdale]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

According to the Political Parties Act (Section 92), the EC can propose that a political party be dissolved if it appears to threaten the democratic system headed by the King.

As I've said many times before reforming 112 so as to deweaponise a totally anachronistic law is not a move to overthrow the Constitutional Monarchy. Having said this the decision has already been ordered.

[newbee2022]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

The Move Forward Party (MFP), an opposition party in Thailand, is presently fighting a case in court to prevent the party from being dissolved. The Election Commission (EC) instigated the case, claiming the party was advocating for changes to Thailand's lese majeste law (Section 112 of the Criminal Code). According to the Political Parties Act (Section 92), the EC can propose that a political party be dissolved if it appears to threaten the democratic system headed by the King.

 

The court allowed the MFP until May 3 to prepare its defense, following the acceptance of the EC's proposal on April 3. However, the MFP asked for another 15-day extension on April 24.

 

Earlier this year, on January 31, the Constitutional Court judged that the MFP was undermining the constitutional monarchy by seeking to change the lese majeste law. As a result of the ruling, the MFP was ordered to stop all efforts to alter Section 112 via non-legislative means. The court determined the party's advocacy to be an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, drawing from the party's previous activities, including efforts to secure bail for lese majeste suspects. The court cited that 44 MFP MPs submitted a bill proposing the amendment of the Section 112 on March 25, 2021.

 

Deputy Party Leader, Police Major General Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, has stated that the MFP did not intend to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. He stressed that the party was carrying out its legislative duties as MPs while proposing the amendment. Despite halting attempts to change Section 112 as per the court order, Bhakdinarinath acknowledged the party's potential dissolution if the court continues its current course.

 

Supisarn Bhakdinarinath also expressed optimism towards the future of the party, predicting an increase in party MPs from 150 to 250 in the next elections.

 

Pattana Reonchaidee, a law lecturer at Ramkhamhaeng University, suggested that a swift ruling is likely, which might not bode well for the MFP. The same judges who ruled on the MFP's January case are expected to decide on the current one.

 

The MFP won 14.4 million votes and 151 seats in the House during the May 14 elections, reaching the highest vote count. Reonchaidee proposed that a dissolution of the party might garner sympathy and potentially lead to more votes for the MFP in the future. However, if the party is dissolved, its MPs must join new parties within 60 days, or they will lose their MP status.

 

Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP / Photo courtesy of The Thaiger

 

-- 2024-05-03

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...and then they will start under a new name 😶

[retarius]

It really is time for the US, the EU and G7 to collectively make a statement that Thailand is not a democracy if MF are dissolved, and for them to treat Thailand accordingly. Having said that seeing the vile and genocidal situation and murder going on in Gaza and the deafening silence of the corrupt west while they still sell the Israelis arms, I cannot see them condemning Thailand for anything anti-democratic. 

[sidneybear]

Good riddance. They wanted to make Thailand like the west.

[Purdey]

This is getting confusing. First, the EC stated that the "MFP was ordered to stop all efforts to alter Section 112 via non-legislative means."

 

Then, submitting a bill is somehow not legislative? 

 

The court cited that 44 MFP MPs submitted a bill proposing the amendment of the Section 112 on March 25, 2021.

 

I'll let someone explain.

[Will B Good]

44 minutes ago, sidneybear said:

Good riddance. They wanted to make Thailand like the west.

 

 

I agree.....best to keep it as it is.......the richest royalty in the world, alongside some of the poorest people in the world, the constant threat of military coups, extreme inequalities in almost every walk of life, a backward, uneducated electorate and corruption and nepotism rife.....what"s not to like?

[sidneybear]

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

....what"s not to like?

The place you came from, which is why you're here 😄

[candide]

19 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The army and elite will never accept a Government of the common people....In a next election and they have the majority ,,, the army will stage a coup again.. just to keep in power...Sadly situation for Thailand as there is more needed to stop these coups

The army can't make coups any more. The troops in Bangkok are now directly under royal command. If it happens, it won't be a decision by the army.

Note that I am not claiming that the 2014 coup was decided by the army, but officially, it was the army's decision. It cannot even be "officially" the case now.

[candide]

Of course, they will dissolve it, but the real question is when? It's no use dissolving it now, as it can be reborn under another name. My guess is that it will be right before, or right after, the next election.

[Artisi]

It's a given it will be dismantled as it's a threat to the current hi-so / military power base, you can't have the unwashed plebs controlling the country. 

[mfd101]

16 hours ago, candide said:

My guess is that it will be right before, or right after, the next election.

Right before.

 

To do it AFTER an election where MFP could well end with over 50% of the vote is too risky. Heavens! The plebs might rise up and overthrow their feudal masters! Goodness me! That would never do.

[bannork]

A couple of weeks ago I read some news that, if true, was disconcerting.

The article said MF had problems with their spare party which was at risk of dissolution. I forget the reason for its potential demise, something to do with the rules of running a party, number of members, length of time of existence, etc.

Sadly I can't find the link to the article now.

 

[puck2]

It's a pitty that the MFP is at risk of dissulution - for a ridicolous reason.

 

Making a putsch is like nothing - in the military dominated government. In other (democratic) states that would be punished to stay in the prison - for life time. TiT.

[mfd101]

I notice - in comments on AN about the political processes and the impossibility of moving forward etc - that people are obsessed with the military as the be-all and the end-all of power in this country.

 

I think that's a misperception. My perception (maybe I'm wrong) is that the military - including the junta chiefs recently retired - are mostly the instruments of the rich elites or oligarchs and their family connections, who actually pull the strings behind the curtain in league with the highest elements of the feudal state. It is they who 'man' the posts that matter eg EC and Constitutional Court, it is they who 'man' the key posts of government decision-making and administration.