Thailand: dissolution of opposition party is 'untenable' decision and should be reversed

Executives of Move Forward Party - Thailand’s biggest political opposition party - now have a ten-year ban on running for office

Party’s campaign for reform of controversial lèse-majesté law used to justify its dissolution

‘The Thai authorities must urgently reverse the dissolution and stop weaponising laws to intimidate and harass critics’ - Deprose Muchen

Responding to news that Thailand’s constitutional court has ruled in support of an Election Commission of Thailand request to dissolve the opposition Move Forward Party due to their campaign to reform the country’s controversial lèse-majesté law, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Senior Director, said:

“The constitutional court’s ruling in favour of dissolving the Move Forward Party is an untenable decision that reveals the authorities’ complete disregard for Thailand’s international human rights obligations.

“Dissolving the party merely for advocating legal reforms constitutes a serious violation of the rights to freedom of expression and association against lawmakers who were simply performing their duty of proposing laws.

“The authorities’ relentless harassment of the political opposition represents a stark contradiction as Thailand has publicly committed to global leadership on human rights by applying for a seat at the UN Human Rights Council.

“The Thai authorities must urgently reverse the dissolution and stop weaponising laws to intimidate and harass critics, human rights defenders and opposition politicians.”

History of dissolving political parties

Earlier today, Thailand’s constitutional court delivered a ruling on a petition submitted by the Election Commission of Thailand resulting in the dissolution of the Move Forward Party. Executives of the Move Forward Party - Thailand’s biggest political opposition party - now have a ten-year ban on running for office. In its petition, the election commission had alleged that the party had attempted to overthrow the monarchy, violating article 92 of the 2017 Organic Act on Political Parties. The allegation stemmed from the party’s campaign to reform the country’s lèse-majesté law to prevent its misuse, not least in stifling dissent in Thailand. Since the country’s 2014 military coup, the Thai authorities have used the lèse-majesté law to criminalise peaceful activism and Amnesty has repeatedly called for the Thai government to bring the law into line with international law.

Amnesty has previously condemned the dissolution of other political opposition parties in Thailand, including the Thai Raksa Chart Party in 2019 and Future Forward Party in 2020. In Thailand’s general election in May 2023, the Move Forward Party won 151 out of 500 seats in the parliament’s lower house - the highest number of seats of all political parties. However, the party wasn’t able to form a government as it didn’t receive sufficient votes from military-appointed senates in the upper house.