Senator says Move Forward faces dissolution over 'law violation'
Senator Somchai Sawangkarn has alleged that the election-winner, Move Forward Party, has violated the political parties act by repeatedly submitting itself to control by an outsider, an offence punishable by party dissolution.
Somchai posted on his Facebook wall at 9.39pm on Wednesday that Move Forward had allegedly violated Article 28 and Article 29 of the political parties act.
Somchai did not name the “outsider” but referred to him as an "acharn" or university lecturer.
He was apparently referring to Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, former secretary-general of the Future Forward Party. Future Forward was dissolved in 2020 for violating the party law and Piyabutr was banned from politics. Former Future Forward MPs later joined Move Forward.
In his post, Somchai alleged that the “acharn”, who is the de facto leader of Move Forward, could not hide his excitement and has allegedly been giving orders to Move Forward both openly and secretly.
“The failure of the de facto leader 'acharn' to control himself apparently signals the party could be dissolved. A disaster is looming,” Somchai said.
He pointed out that Article 28 of the political parties act prohibited a party from allowing any outsider to control or influence or dominate the party’s affairs both directly or indirectly.
Article 29 prohibits a non-party member from doing anything to dominate a party directly or indirectly.
Somchai alleged that Piyabutr has given orders to Move Forward former MPs on several occasions. For example, he has allegedly told former Move Forward MPs to use their parliamentary status to seek release of lese majeste law violation suspects on bail.
Somchai also alleged that Piyabutr has made public comments telling Move Forward to keep the post of House speaker with itself.
