Just hours after the Move Forward Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court, its former key members declared that they will unveil a new party this Friday and continue their political struggle.
Sirikanya Tansakun, deputy leader of the now-defunct Move Forward, did not dismiss the possibility that the new party will continue to address the issue of Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which was the cause of Move Forward’s disbandment.
She noted that the court ruling does not specifically ban an amendment to the article. “Everybody believes that the article is problematic. But we need to discuss it in more detail when we move to our new home,” she said at a news conference after the court ruling.
Sirikanya is widely speculated to be designated as the leader of a backup political party that has been set up as a contingency in response to the court ruling.
“We will move on and will not abandon the mission assigned to us by the people as long as people are on our side,” she said.
Move Forward Party had 148 MPs before the dissolution. Five of them were members of its executive committee who were stripped off their MP status as a result of the court ruling. It’s still uncertain as to how many of the remaining MPs will move to the new party amid speculation that a number of them could defect to some of the parties in the coalition government.
Speaking at the same news conference, former party leader Chaithawat Tulathon said the court ruling “sets a dangerous precedent for the interpretation of the Constitution and laws.”
He added that the ruling also “risks affecting the important and basic values of the democratic system with the King as head of state.”
Chaithawat warned that the verdict also puts the current democratic system under the monarchy at risk “by being transformed into another system.”
Chaithawat is among the 11 members of the party’s executive committee who have been slapped with a 10-year political ban, along with its chief advisor, Pita Limjaroenrat.
Pita said that despite the ban, he will continue his political activities as a private citizen.
“We may grieve over what happened today, but tomorrow we will draw a line and cross it, mobilizing all the anger and energy into every polling booth,” he said in an attempt to pacify his angry supporters who crowded the party’s headquarters.
Many of the Move Forward supporters told Thai PBS World that they were disappointed and angered by the court ruling.
“We want to reaffirm that we did nothing aimed at overthrowing or being hostile toward the democratic system as ruled by the court,” he said.
