BANGKOK: A popular Thai politician facing a 10-year ban after challenging the king’s defamation laws said he was “very confident” of a ruling in his favor by Thailand’s top court, expected on Wednesday.
Pita Limjaroenrat, who led the progressive Movement Forward Party (MFP) to a shock first place in last May’s general election, made the comments ahead of a Bangkok Constitutional Court decision on whether to dissolve his party over the pledge. to reform the royal insult laws.
“We are very confident in the facts that we have presented and the argument about the illegality of the process led by the electoral commission,” he told AFP ahead of the verdict at 15:00 (08:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
“We hope the court will take this seriously and we believe there is a rule of law in Thailand.”
The 43-year-old former businessman appeared in parliament in high spirits on Wednesday morning, telling lawmakers he had faith in the kingdom’s legal process.
But it may be his last appearance in parliament for some time, if the court decides against him.
Pita surged ahead of elections last year when he struck a chord with young and urban voters with his promise to reform Thailand’s strict royal defamation law, which human rights groups say has been abused to stifle political debate.
But his bid to become prime minister was blocked by conservative forces in the Senate.
His political career was further shaken in March when Thailand’s election commission asked the country’s highest court to dissolve the MFP.
This comes after an earlier ruling that the party’s commitment to reform the Royal Forestry Act amounted to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.
In Thailand, where King Maha Vajiralongkorn enjoys a quasi-divine status that places him above the political fray, the allegations made by Lese-Majesty are extremely serious.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says the royal law is routinely used to silence political dissent.
Last year, Thai authorities prosecuted at least 258 people in connection with various activities carried out at pro-democracy protests or comments on social media regarding allegations of abuse of majesty, the organization said in its World Report 2024.
Meanwhile, Pita warned against the weaponization of Thailand’s judicial system, saying 33 parties had been dissolved over the past two decades, including “the four main ones that were popularly elected”.
“The question is not what we will do when we are dissolved – that is already taken care of and our ideas will survive – but rather the model of arming the judiciary and independent bodies that we should pay attention to,” Pita said.
“We should not normalize this behavior or accept the use of a politicized court as a weapon to destroy political parties.”
The chairman of the MFP, which has 148 seats in Thailand’s 500-seat parliament, will create a new instrument if the party is dissolved, he said.
Pita first appeared on the political scene in 2018 as part of the progressive Future Forward Party (FFP).
The dissolution of the FFP in 2020 was the catalyst for mass youth-led street demonstrations that shook Bangkok for months.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets as the protests peaked, many of them in unprecedented criticism of the royal family and demands for transparency and reforms.
More than 270 people have been charged with lese-majesty following the protests, including two elected MPs.
“While I cannot and will not stop a peaceful assembly – which I fully support – it is the right of people in a democratic system to express their disapproval of anything they feel is unfair,” he said. Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, is known for its chronic instability, with a dozen coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.
