Thailand: Political developments 2023-24 and the banning of the Move Forward Party

In August 2024 Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered that the Move Forward political party be dissolved, and its leaders banned from politics for ten years.

This briefing paper looks at the Move Forward party, the Court’s decision, and other events in Thailand’s politics since the May 2023 general election.

May 2023 general election

The Move Forward party is a centre-left party opposed to the military-royalist establishment in Thailand. In the May 2023 election, the Move Forward party became the largest party, winning 151 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives. The elections are the second held since the 2014 military coup.

Move Forward were the only party advocating for reforming the country’s strict lèse-majesté law which criminalises insulting the monarchy, and carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

In 2023 Move Forward’s leader Pita Limjaroenrat put together a prospective coalition of several parties to form a government, including the second-placed Pheu Thai party, which had won 141 seats.

Pheu Thai was founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed in a military coup in 2006, and was at the time of the election in exile, with outstanding criminal charges still facing him in Thailand.

Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat blocked from becoming Prime Minister

A temporary provision of the Thai constitution (written by the ruling military council after the 2014 coup), allowed the military to appoint all 250 members of the Senate, the upper house of Thailand’s National Assembly, and mandated that candidates for Prime Minister must win a majority of a joint vote by members of both houses of parliament.

On 13 July 2023 in a joint session of parliament, Pita Limjaroenrat failed to win enough votes to become Prime Minister. He won 323 votes in total, 51 votes short of the required threshold of 375. Only 13 of Pita’s 323 votes came from the Senate.

The Move Forward leader said he would try again, but on 19 July 2023 when a second parliamentary vote was scheduled, he was suspended from parliament by the Constitutional Court. The suspension was imposed after the court accepted a legal challenge from the Election Commission that alleged he was not eligible to run in the election due to owning shares in a media company (which parliamentary candidates are barred from having).

Pheu Thai party forms government with military-backed parties

Pheu Thai then attempted to form a government. It dropped Move Forward from its coalition, and in a surprise move teamed up with military backed parties, something it had ruled out doing in the election.

Pheu Thai nominated Srettha Thavisin, a former property developer, as its candidate for Prime Minister. He won a parliamentary vote on 22 August 2023 and entered office.

On the same day, former Pheu Thai leader and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra flew black to Thailand after a 15-year exile, leading to speculation this was part of a “backroom deal between Thaksin’s camp and the powerful monarchical-military establishment”, a charge Pheu Thai denied.

Thaksin was immediately arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail. He asked the King for a full pardon. While this was not granted, the King did reduce the sentence to one year, saying the former Prime Minister “has done good for the country and people and is loyal to the monarchy”.

Due to ill-health Thaksin served his sentence in a police hospital rather than jail and was released on parole in February 2024.

Move Forward dissolved by Constitutional Court

In January 2024, Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled that Pita Limjaroenrat did not violate the election law on owning shares in a media company and could retain his seat in Parliament.

In March 2024 Thailand’s Election Commission announced it was filing a complaint to the Constitutional Court seeking the dissolution of Move Forward, saying there was evidence the party “undermines the democratic system with the king as the head of state”.

On 7 August 2024 the Constitutional Court ordered that Move Forward be dissolved and banned 10 of its members, including former-leader and Prime Ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years. The court found that Move Forward’s campaign to amend the lèse-majesté law amounted to an attempt to overthrow Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

The decision was criticised by human rights groups, and the US government. A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: “Pluralism and freedom of speech are central principles of democracy. The dissolution of another major political party in Thailand is therefore a setback for these principles. We encourage all parties to uphold democratic rights and representation”.

Move Forward is the ninth political party to be banned by the courts since 2007.

Prime Minister Srettha removed by Constitutional Court

On 14 August 2024, a week following the banning of Move Forward, the Constitutional Court ordered that Pheu Thai party Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin be removed from office for earlier that year appointing a minister who had a criminal conviction. The Court said this was an “ethical violation” by Mr Srettha which violated the ethics codes in Thailand’s Constitution.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai scholar living in exile told the German news organisation DW: “The Constitutional Court has clearly become the one to set political rules while the people are removed from this equation”, adding “the establishment still employs non-democratic means to determine the life or death of Thai politics”.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes new Prime Minister

On 16 August 2024, Thailand’s House of Representatives elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister (the temporary constitutional provision requiring Senate involvement in the vote had now lapsed). Ms Shinawatra is the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra (Prime Minister 2001-2006) and niece of Yingluk Shinawatra (Prime Minister 2011-14), both of whom were removed from office after military coups.

At 37 years old she became the youngest Prime Minister in Thailand’s history. The new Prime Minister had only entered politics a few years before, having previously worked at her family’s chain of hotels.

Her election focused attention on the extent to which her father Thaksin would influence her government’s policies.

In June 2024 the Thaksin Shinawatra was indicted for insulting the country’s monarchy under the lèse-majesté laws, for comments he made in a 2015 interview with a South Korean newspaper.

After being released on parole in February 2024, AP News reported that since his release from parole in February 2024 Thaksin Shinawatra has “maintained a high profile […] that could upset the powerful conservative establishment”, and that the new legal case “is seen by some analysts as a warning from Thaksin’s enemies that he should tone down his political activities”.

The next scheduled hearing for his legal case is in July 2025.