Thai court bans a popular political party for proposing to amend lèse-majesté law

BANGKOK — Thailand’s Constitutional Court has banned Thailand’s most popular party for allegedly violating the constitution by proposing to amend the law against defaming the country’s royal family. The court ruled Wednesday that the party’s campaign to amend the law amounted to an attempt to overthrow Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

The court also banned the party’s senior leaders from participating in politics for 10 years.

The Move Forward Party emerged from the ashes of the upstart Future Forward Party, which was dissolved in 2020 for accepting a loan from its then-leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit after a surprising third-place finish in the 2019 general election. Its top leadership was also barred from politics for 10 years. But the party was quick to re-form as the Move Forward Party, and in the May 2023 general election, struck gold.

Move Forward was the top vote-getter in that election, running on a platform of what its charismatic young leader Pita Limjaroenrat summarized for NPR as the three D's: “Demilitarize, demonopolize and decentralize. That’s how you democratize Thailand. That’s the endgame.”

The party also pledged to amend Thailand's controversial lèse-majesté law, which criminalizes criticism of the royal institution. Its promise of change struck a chord with Thai voters, particularly younger ones, with the party winning 14 million votes, including all but one of the 33 seats in the capital Bangkok.

The 43-year-old Harvard-educated Pita looked set to become prime minister after the election, but was thwarted by conservative elements in the military-appointed senate. The party soon found itself in opposition and under attack by the conservative, royalist elite, even though public opinion polls to this day consistently show him as the people’s most popular choice to be prime minister.

The State Department expressed concern about Wednesday's court decision. Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that it "jeopardizes Thailand’s democratic progress and runs counter to the aspirations of the Thai people for a strong, democratic future."

Critics say the lèse-majesté law — Article 112 in Thailand's criminal code — that was the catalyst for the party’s dissolution has been selectively enforced to target opponents of Thailand’s royalist, conservative establishment.

After Future Forward was dissolved in 2020, large youth-led protests broke out, with calls to make the country more democratic — and for the first time, there were public calls for reform of the monarchy, long a taboo subject.

Since those protests, more than 262 people have been charged with lèse-majesté under Article 112, according to the advocacy group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. Each count carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

In May, 28-year-old political activist Netiporn Sanaesangkhom died in pretrial detention after a two-month hunger strike. Her alleged crime had been conducting a poll at an upscale mall, asking shoppers if they were ever “inconvenienced” by royal motorcades.

In its arguments before the court, Move Forward had argued the court had no jurisdiction to rule on the case and that the original petition to do so filed by the Election Commission did not follow due process. The court, however, dismissed those arguments.

Thailand’s courts and other theoretically independent state agencies such as the election commission are widely seen as conservative-friendly, if not adjacent, and have been used repeatedly in the past against those perceived as political opponents of the royalist, conservative elite.

“The process lacked transparency and fairness,” says Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch in Bangkok. “Thailand is now joining the club of countries with elected governments but lack democracy … and this is a very serious blow to restore democracy and human rights in Thailand after many years of military rule.”

What happens next is unclear, but the party’s leaders have hinted they’ve prepared alternatives — a new party, perhaps, or the now-homeless members joining another, smaller party to continue their work with an eye toward the next election.

The possibility of Move Forward’s dissolution was a subject Pita Limjaroenrat was keenly aware of even a month before last year’s general election, given the fate of the party’s predecessor, Future Forward.

“Oh, we’re going to try again,” he told NPR. “So, in the worst-case scenario, if we’re going to be kneecapped again the next 10 people, you know, will take over … So if it doesn’t work this time, it will work next time.”

Fourteen million now-disenfranchised Thais who voted for Move Forward are likely hoping the same.