EC asked to seek Move Forward disbandment after court verdict

Ruangkrai submitted his petition to the chairman of the commission’s office. In his petition, he noted that the court deemed Move Forward’s policy and election promise to amend Article 112 of the Penal Code, also known as the lese majeste law as an attempt to overthrow Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

Meanwhile, lawyer Theerayut Suwankesorn, whose petition led to the court verdict against Move Forward, also requested the EC to follow up on the ruling by seeking a Constitutional Court order to disband the party for allegedly attempting to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.

“After carefully considering the court’s verdict, I decided that as the original petitioner, I should take complete action as per my constitutional rights,” Theerayut said.

“I have direct responsibility to follow up on the verdict, so I need to submit another petition,” he added.

The lawyer submitted his 11-page complaint, as well as more than 100 pages of relevant documents, including a transcript of the court ruling.

On Wednesday, the court ordered Move Forward to cease all attempts to abolish or amend the lese majeste law, saying that its constant campaigning on the issue would undermine the Thai monarchy and was deemed an attempt to overthrow the country’s constitutional monarchy as per Article 49 of the Constitution.

Ruangkrai told media at the EC office that he was asking the commission to petition the Constitutional Court seeking the disbandment of Move Forward and a political ban on its executives for allegedly attempting to overthrow Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

He said the EC has the authority to take this action in line with Article 92 of the Constitution. This states that when having believable evidence that any political party performed any of the following actions, the EC shall file a petition to the Constitutional Court to dissolve such political party: “To overthrow the democratic form of government with the King as head of state or to perform any action to get the power to govern the country by any means that are not in the due process of law as prescribed in the Constitution, and to perform any action that may be adverse to the democratic form of government with the King as head of state.”

The petitioner said now that the Constitutional Court has given a clear verdict on the matter, the EC has the duty under the charter to take the necessary action. He added that he would also file a separate petition with the National Anti-Corruption Commission against the party.

Ruangkrai, who is affiliated with the current ruling coalition’s Palang Pracharath Party, said that he was “acting as a citizen” in this move against the opposition party.

When asked what should be done with the ruling Pheu Thai Party which also campaigned for amendments to the lese majeste law in the run-up to the general election last May, Ruangkrai said on Thursday that he was gathering evidence.

“Don’t worry. If there is convincing evidence, I will petition the responsible agencies,” he said.

Ruangkrai also claimed that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who were both prime ministerial candidates of the ruling party in the previous election, mentioned plans to amend Article 112 during their election campaign.

There was a large police presence at the Government Complex, which houses the EC office, on Thursday as many groups of people including Move Forward supporters turned out.

In May, shortly before the last election, Ruangkrai asked the EC to investigate if Move Forward’s former leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s shareholding in independent broadcaster iTV was against the law. His petition led to a case against Pita at the Constitutional Court, which last week cleared the charismatic politician because iTV was no longer a media outlet.