Pita still upbeat about MFP's survival in dissolution case

Pita, whose campaigns for amending the lese majeste law last year when he was MFP leader led to the case against his party, said he would fulfill his duty as an MP by attending the House meeting before hearing the court verdict at 3 pm.

Pita said he was confident that his party would survive the dissolution case because he compared the MFP’s case to the one against the Democrat Party in 2010. In 2010, the Democrat Party escaped dissolution on the grounds that the Election Commission’s lawsuit was unlawful.

Pita said the MFP also argued with the Constitutional Court that the EC’s lawsuit against the party failed to comply with the EC’s own regulations by not allowing the MFP and Pita to defend themselves before the EC sent the case to the court. The EC accused the MFP of violating the organic law on political parties with election campaigns that were deemed attempts to topple the Constitutional Monarchy and acts hostile to the ruling system.

Pita said although academics believed the MFP would be dissolved, he was not angry at them for predicting so, as they based their predictions on past statistics, which saw 33 parties dissolved and only the Democrat Party surviving dissolution.

Pita said he went to bed at 10 pm on Tuesday night because he was not under pressure about the judgment day on Wednesday. He said he initially planned to participate in the deliberation of a land transport bill sponsored by MFP MPs but expected the deliberation would be finished after 2 pm, leaving him insufficient time to prepare for hearing the verdict.

As a result, he planned to ask the House to move up the agenda on the grievances of residents of 37 provinces that have been hit by floods, Pita said.

Regarding reports that some key coalition partners expect the MFP to be dissolved and have approached several MFP MPs to join them after the dissolution, Pita said the reports had grounds. However, he emphasized that MFP MPs were ideologically committed and would stay with the MFP in a new party to be set up for them instead of defecting.

Pita said the MFP MPs who have been approached assured him that they could not be bought. “They assured me that money could not buy them and they would not trade the people’s trust in them for any benefits,” Pita said.