The Constitutional Court will hand down its ruling in the dissolution case against the Move Forward Party (MFP) on Aug 7.
The court sat on Wednesday to consider the petition submitted by the Election Commission's (EC) political party registrar seeking the dissolution of the MFP, which leads the opposition in the parliament.
The petitioner also asked the court to revoke the rights of party executives to stand for election and prohibit them and those who lose those rights from registering or serving on the executive of a new party for 10 years, under Sections 92 and 94 of the organic law on political parties.
In the petition, the EC claimed to have evidence the MFP had shown an intention to overthrow the democratic regime of the government with HM the King as head of state. The commission found the party’s action hostile to the constitutional monarchy.
The petition was submitted in March in response to the charter court’s opinion issued on Jan 31, that the MFP’s efforts to amend Section 112 of the Criminal Code, known as the lese-majeste law, indicated an intention to undermine the constitutional monarchy.
The court on Wednesday found that the case was about legal problems and there was sufficient evidence to give a ruling and decided to end the hearing. If the MFP wanted to make a closing statement, it could submit a written statement to the court by July 24.
The court scheduled Aug 7 to deliver its ruling in the case.
In its finding on Jan 31, the court also ordered the MFP to cease all attempts to rewrite Section 112. It said campaigning on the issue was considered an attempt to end the constitutional monarchy and violated Section 49 of the constitution.
The MFP's proposed amendments included a requirement that any lese majeste complaint must be filed by the Royal Household Bureau, not by politicians and others. It also called for reduced sentences.
Move Forward has a huge young following and won the most votes and the most seats in last year's general election, 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.
