Thai opposition to choose new leader, relaunch after court dissolution

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand’s main opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) will select a new leader on Thursday, a senior official said, before it relaunches under a new name to counter a court-mandated dissolution.

The Constitutional Court in Bangkok, Thailand’s top court, voted unanimously on Wednesday to dissolve the MFP, the vanguard of the country’s youthful pro-democracy movement, and ban its executive board members from politics for 10 years.

Those banned include 43-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, who led the reformist MFP to a shock first place in a general election last year after striking a chord with young and urban voters with his pledge to reform Thailand’s strict royal defamation law.

“Today there will be an internal meeting among 143 people to agree on the selection of a new leader and party committee,” MFP deputy leader, Sirikanya Tansakul, who is expected to succeed Pita, told Thai television on Thursday.

“We are moving to a new home,” she said.

Pita’s bid to become prime minister was blocked by conservative forces in the Senate. A fragile coalition of army-linked parties took office instead under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.

The European Union, the United States, the United Nations and human rights groups blasted the court’s decision, which the EU said harmed democratic openness in Thailand.

The MFP said soon after the ruling that it would relaunch under a new name on Friday.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who led the MFP’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party (FFP), before it was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in 2020, said the new party had the opportunity to become even stronger.

“We want to build a mass party where people actively participate in politics,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

“A strong mass party is the only weapon the people have to create change,” he said, adding that the new party would focus on elections due in 2027.

Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, is known for chronic political instability, with a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.

The Constitutional Court is due to deliver another major decision next Wednesday, this time on accusations that Srettha had violated ethical rules by appointing a minister who had served time in prison.

An unfavorable ruling could force Srettha out of office after just a year.

Thai media have touted Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as a potential successor to Srettha.