BANGKOK: A popular Thai politician facing a decade-long ban after challenging royal defamation laws said he was “highly confident” of a ruling in his favour by Thailand’s top court expected on Wednesday.
Pita Limjaroenrat, who led the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) to a shock first place finish in a general election in May last year, made the comments ahead of a decision by the Constitutional Court in Bangkok on whether to dissolve his party over its pledge to reform the royal insult laws.
“We are highly confident in the facts we presented and the argument about the illegality of the process conducted by the Election Commission,“ he told AFP ahead of the ruling due at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT) on Wednesday.
“We hope the court will take these into serious consideration and believe that the rule of law exists in Thailand.”
The 43-year-old former businessman appeared in parliament Wednesday morning in high spirits, telling lawmakers he had faith in the kingdom’s legal process.
But it could be his last appearance in parliament for a while if the court rules against him.
Pita’s popularity soared ahead of the election last year as he struck a chord with young and urban voters with his pledge to reform Thailand’s strict royal defamation law, which rights groups say has been misused to stifle political debate.
But his bid to become prime minister was blocked by conservative forces in the senate.
His political career was further shaken in March when Thailand’s election commission asked the country’s top court to dissolve the MFP.
This followed an earlier ruling that the party’s pledge to reform the royal lese-majeste law amounted to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.
Lese-majeste charges are extremely serious in Thailand, where King Maha Vajiralongkorn enjoys a quasi-divine status that places him above political fray.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says the royal law has been routinely used to silence political dissent.
Last year Thai authorities prosecuted at least 258 people in relation to various activities undertaken at democracy protests or comments made on social media on lese-majeste charges, the organisation said in its 2024 World Report.
Pita, meanwhile, has warned against the weaponisation of Thailand’s judicial system, saying 33 parties have been dissolved over the past two decades, including “four major ones that were popularly elected”.
“The issue is not what we will do if we are dissolved — that is already taken care of and our ideas will survive — but rather the pattern of weaponising the judiciary and independent bodies that we should pay attention to,“ Pita said.
“We should not normalise this behaviour or accept the use of a politicised court as a weapon to destroy political parties.”
The executive of the MFP, which has 148 seats in Thailand’s 500-seat parliament, will form a new vehicle if the party is dissolved, he said.
Pita first appeared on the political scene in 2018 as part of the progressive Future Forward Party (FFP).
Dissolution of the FFP in 2020 was the catalyst for mass youth-led street demonstrations that shook Bangkok for months.
Tens of thousands took to the streets at the height of the protests, many making unprecedented public criticism of the royal family as well as demands for transparency and reform.
More than 270 people were charged with lese-majeste in the wake of the protests, including two elected MPs.
“While I cannot and will not stop peaceful assembly — which I fully support — it is the right of people in a democratic system to express opposition to anything they see as unjust,“ he said.
Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, is known for its chronic instability, with a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.
