Thailand’s disbanded Move Forward rallies support for new party: ‘this is just the start’

The party, which said the ruling set a dangerous precedent for how the constitution could be interpreted, will unveil its new name and leadership on Friday.

“Move Forward moves to a new party – all 143 of our parliamentarians are coming with us,” the party said, promising that there would be no defections.

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Thailand’s reformist Move Forward political party dissolved under lèse-majesté law

It will be the third incarnation of the progressive Future Forward, which was dissolved for a campaign financing violation in 2020, triggering nationwide anti-government protests.

“Even though we are sad, we will use our energy to next time, at by-elections, provincial polls … to show those in power that this is just the start,” deputy leader Sirikanya Tansakul, who is widely expected to be the next leader, told supporters late on Wednesday.

Move Forward won the most seats in last year’s poll, but its progressive policies that include undoing business monopolies and military reform clashed with country’s conservative establishment, old-money elites and the royalist military.

Conservative parties and the military-appointed upper house had blocked Move Forward’s charismatic leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, from becoming premier last year. Pita is now banned from public office for a decade along with 10 other party executives.

Forty-four of Move Forward’s current and former politicians, including 26 legislators, are also the subject of a complaint to an anti-corruption body by conservative activists seeking lifetime political bans for seeking to change the royal insults law.

The party’s dissolution comes at a crucial time in Thai politics, with a decision on case seeking Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s dismissal due next week.

The Constitutional