The Election Commission (EC) confirmed on Monday the People's Party (PP), the reincarnation of the disbanded Move Forward Party (MFP), had set up party branches as legally required.
The confirmation came after Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom said he was preparing to file a petition against the PP over its predecessor, Thin Kakao Chaovilai, having failed to register enough party branches.
Thin Kakao Chaovilai was taken over by members of Move Forward when their party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court last Wednesday for undermining the constitutional monarchy. It was renamed People's Power and launched on Friday.
Dr Warong claimed Thin Kakao Chaovilai had registered two branches in the North and one in the Central Plains region, but the opposition party did not have a single branch in the South or Northeast. Under the law, he said that a political party ceases to exist legally if it does not have at least one branch in each of the four regions for a consecutive period of one year.
EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said that Thin Kakao Chaovilai had registered all party branches as legally required, and the Office of the EC had concluded its enquiry.
"Officials are sent to observe the proceedings when a party branch is set up. After the meeting to register a party branch is concluded, the establishment of the branch is considered complete and legally binding," he said.
He added that the process must be reported to the political party registrar, who reviews it to ensure it complies with the law.
Mr Sawaeng said the establishment of the party branches is complete, but it has not been officially acknowledged, and the EC's database has yet to be updated.
He said the PP is in the process of setting up a branch in Phitsanulok, which, once up and running, will field a candidate to contest a forthcoming by-election. The by-election is necessary to find a replacement for former deputy House speaker Padipat Santipada, who was banned from politics as part of the dissolution of Move Forward.
Phakhaon Noon-anant, a PP list-MP, insisted the party now has branches in every region and called on Dr Warong to verify information before threatening to take action.
She also challenged Dr Warong, himself a former MP for Phitsanulok, to contest the by-election to see if voters still support him.
Meanwhile, Dr Warong posted on Facebook on Monday that he will proceed with the planned petition and will submit it to the EC on Wednesday.
"We're not talking about now. The EC must examine if the Thin Kakao Chaovilai Party had those branches in every region [for at least one year] by the time it was taken over," he said.