Move Forward Party prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat is disqualified from the premiership after a court gave him a suspended jail sentence for his role in a flash mob protest in Bangkok in 2019, according to a prominent law academic.
Jade Donavanik, a lecturer at the College of Asian Scholars, said the four-month sentence ordered by the Pathumwan District Court on Monday affected Mr Pita's eligibility to be prime minister under Section 160(7) of the constitution.
The section stipulated that a minister must not be a person sentenced by a judgement to imprisonment, irrespective of the finality of the case or suspension of the punishment, unless it was an offence committed through negligence, a petty offence, or defamation.
Mr Jade, who was an adviser to the last constitution drafting committee, said Mr Pita was already disqualified under the law, even though the flash mob case is not finalised and the jail sentence was suspended.
On Monday Pita and seven others, including Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, former leader of the disbanded Future Forward Party and head of the Progressive Movement, were sentenced to four months in jail, suspended for two years, for their involvement in the flash mob protest on an elevated walkway at Pathumwan intersection on Dec 14, 2019.
At the time, it was the largest protest since the 2014 military coup and followed the Election Commission's decision to seek the disbandment of the Future Forward Party for illegally accepting a large loan from Mr Thanathorn.
The court subsequently dissolved the party and banned Mr Thanathorn and other members of the executive from holding political office.
Mr Pita said on Monday they would appeal the court's ruling in the flash mob case.