
The Constitutional Court has set July 17 for the next hearing in the dissolution case brought against the Move Forward Party (MFP).
The court on Wednesday met to discuss the petition by the Election Commission (EC) asking for a ruling on its recommended dissolution of the MFP, the main opposition party.
The EC’s registrar has submitted evidence to the court that he said showed the MFP had the intention of undermining the constitutional monarchy and was hostile to the democratic regime with the King as head of state and therefore in violation of Section 92 of the organic law on political parties.
The EC cited an earlier ruling by the Constitutional Court, which is said presented grounds for dissolution. The poll agency asked the court to disband the party and revoke the rights of party executives to stand for election and prohibit anyone who loses those rights from registering or serving on the executive of a new party for 10 years, under Sections 92 and 94 of the charter.
The court on Wednesday said that for the benefit of the consideration of the case, it would await the results of the examination of evidence of the parties involved on July 9. The court set 7.30pm on July 17 for the next hearing of the dissolution case.
In March, the EC petitioned the court to rule on the dissolution of the party in responding to the court’s opinion issued on Jan 31 that the MFP’s efforts to amend Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majesty law, indicated an intention to undermine the constitutional monarchy.
The court ordered the party to stop its campaign but did not propose any further punishment.
Move Forward complied with the court's decision, has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the EC's dissolution recommendation in court.
The party, which has a huge young following, won the most votes and the most seats in last year's general election but it was prevented from forming a coalition government by conservative lawmakers and military-appointed senators. The second largest party, Pheu Thai, broke its agreement with MFP and linked up with parties from the previous government to head the current ruling coalition.