Thailand - August 2024

On 7 August, Thailand’s Constitutional Court dissolved the 2023 election-winning opposition Move Forward Party (MFP), on the grounds that its campaign to reform the royal defamation law amounts to an attempt to “overthrow the monarchy.” The Court simultaneously banned eleven party leaders from politics for ten years. The United Nations, European Union and rights activists have widely criticized the dissolution. On 9 August, 143 remaining MFP lawmakers regrouped as the People’s Party– appointing Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut as the party’s leader. On 14 August, the same Court ordered Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to step down in a separate ethics violation case, prompting the ruling Pheu Thai Party to nominate Paetongtarn Shinawatra as the new prime minister. Legal experts have condemned both rulings as disproportionate and politically motivated, criticizing the Court for overstepping its powers and weakening the country’s system of checks and balances. 

Sources: International IDEA, Human Rights Watch, East Asia Forum, The Bangkok Post, United Nations, BBC News