July 29, 2024
BANGKOK – The Move Forward Party appears resigned to its fate in the dissolution case, releasing a video clip saying its political spirit would go on even though the party may be dissolved.
Move Forward on Sunday released a specially made video clip on its Facebook page, showing core members saying their opponents could not kill the party’s spirit simply by having it dissolved.
Leading members said their party would be reborn just as Move Forward itself was reborn after the Future Forward Party was dissolved on February 21, 2020, and Move Forward members would continue to work for the Thai people under the banner of the new party.
The Constitutional Court scheduled August 7 for announcing its verdict in the case in which Move Forward was accused by the Election Commission of violating the Political Parties Act with behaviour deemed an attempt to dissolve the constitutional monarchy and a hostile act against the ruling system.
The EC based its lawsuit on the court’s own ruling at the end of January when it found Move Forward’s election campaigns last year an attempt to topple the constitutional monarchy. The court ordered the party to halt its campaigns to amend Article 112, the lese majeste law, but did not hand down punishment against the party in that ruling.
Even Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, founder of Future Forward, saw the writing on the wall for the Move Forward, and recommended that the party MPs get ready to move to another party after it is dissolved.
In the caption of the video post released on Sunday, the party states: “The dissolution against Move Forward can dissolve only the legal entity but it won’t be able to halt our political ideology. The party will move on no matter what will happen on August 7. From Future Forward to Move Forward, we’ll continue to the future.”
In the video clip, Move Forward spokesman and party-list MP Parit Wacharasindhu said the party was facing the same thing other parties had faced during the past 20 years – using dissolution cases as political persecution.
“The [court] may dissolve the legal entity but it won’t be able to halt the party’s ideology,” Parit said. “It will instead alert people of irregularities and it will encourage the people to join and push for Move Forward’s agendas.”
Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, Move Forward deputy secretary general, said in the clip that the party did not touch the Royal Family but the party’s presence affected political parties of the old politics, so they joined forces to try to have the party dissolved on allegations related to the royal institution.
Move Forward deputy leader and party-list MP Sirikanya Tansakun said in the clip that dissolution would not change people’s minds about supporting the party or cause people to lose hope in Move Forward.
She said Move Forward has become a political institution and a change of its leaders and executives and names would not change the ideology and character of the party.