BANGKOK: Thailand’s disbanded opposition Move Forward unveiled a new leadership and political vehicle on Friday (Aug 9) that will become the biggest party in parliament, naming it People’s Party, and promising to advance its predecessor’s progressive platform.
The anti-establishment Move Forward, which won most seats in the last election but was blocked from forming a government, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, which ruled its plan to amend a law that shields the royal family from criticism risked undermining democracy and the constitutional monarchy.
All 143 surviving Move Forward lawmakers have joined the new party to be led by 37-year-old Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, a former executive of a cloud software company who joined Move Forward in 2019.
“We will carry on Move Forward’s ideology. The mission for me and the party is to create a government for change in 2027,” Natthaphong told a press conference.
The dissolution, which was criticised by the United States, Britain and European Union, was the latest salvo in a two-decade battle for power in Thailand that broadly pits its conservative establishment and royalist military against popularly elected parties.
Move Forward’s liberal agenda has won massive support from young and urban voters, but earned it some powerful enemies, with plans that include reforming the military and dismantling business monopolies worth billions of dollars each year.
Its bid to amend a law on royal insults was its undoing, riling influential generals and royalists with far-reaching connections, who see the monarchy as sacrosanct.
Though the court in a January ruling ordered Move Forward to drop its campaign, Natthaphong said the new party would continue the push to change the law, known as article 112, though with caution.
