Thailand’s conservative government is trying to remove politicians who promise reform, according to the former leader of a popular party that was banned by a court last week.
Pita Limcharoenrat, whose party won the most votes and the most seats in last year’s election, said Thailand is stuck in a “double-lock democracy” where the judicial system and military coups have repeatedly been used to undermine electoral results.
The former prime minister’s party was dissolved on Wednesday after he promised to reform the country’s strict lèse majesté laws, under which criticism of the monarchy can lead to up to 15 years in prison.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, the European Union and the US State Department have all expressed concern over the Constitutional Court’s ruling, warning that it will set back the country’s democratic gains.
The party’s remaining members have since regrouped under a new party, the People’s Party, but Pita and the En Marche executive committee have been banned from politics for 10 years, and he has warned that legal threats against the new party could escalate.
“They are coming after us. They are trying to exterminate us,” Pita told the Guardian from his home in Bangkok. “They are not going to compromise. We are not here to get an agreement.”
Move Forward promised to revolutionize Thailand by stopping the military’s interference in politics, breaking up the monopolies that dominate the economy and reforming lese majeste laws.
Their promises resonated with a wide swath of Thai voters but also provoked fierce opposition from powerful military royalist factions, who accused them of trying to overthrow the monarchy and blocked their seizure of power.
Pita said the opposition was using the monarchy as a pretext to protect its own interests.
“We are a constitutional monarchy and I believe the king is respected above politics,” he said, adding, “I want those in power, whether military or corporate monopolies, to stop degrading the king’s status as an excuse to protect the concentration of wealth and power.”
He said his party’s promise of legal reform was aimed at easing the tensions that exist between younger generations and the royal family.
“My aim in trying to amend the Criminal Code (Article 112) (lese majeste) was to use Parliament as a transparent middle ground, a common ground.”
Mass youth-led protests in 2020 called for reform of the monarchy, criticising an institution long considered sacrosanct. An unprecedented debate over lèse majesté erupted ahead of last year’s elections, forcing political parties to publish their stance on the law, with only Move Forward promising reform.
Pita added that there is now less room for such debate and the situation for freedom of speech is worse than it was before the mass protests began. At least 272 people have been charged with lèse majesté since 2020.
Pita said that after Move Forward was dissolved, a “thirst for justice” emerged among the public. “I spend more time shaping the trajectory of anger and hunger at the ballot box than fighting in the streets,” he said, adding that street protests risked “bullets being put into people’s heads” and a military coup.
Thai authorities have a history of using excessive violence against protesters, including a military crackdown in 2010 that left at least 90 people dead.
The threat of a coup has always been present in Thailand, he added. “I say this not because of my feelings, but because of the facts. Since 1932, there have been 13 military coups and 20 attempted coups. The last one was only 10 years ago,” he said. Judicial harassment was another way for the establishment to maintain control, he added.
Move Forward is the 34th political party to be dissolved since 2006, Pita said.
Further legal threats are looming for former Move Forward politicians, including those who have moved to the party’s successor, the People’s Party. The National Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the ethical conduct of 44 Move Forward politicians who supported the Les Majeste amendment bill, and they could be permanently banned from politics.
The new party hopes to win by an even larger margin than in last year’s election and to “make us the undisputed leader of a democratic Thailand”.
He added that Thailand’s old system is at risk of “collapse from within” as new generations enter politics, the judicial system and the military.
The People’s Party says its strategies may differ, but its philosophy remains the same: “You can pick some flowers, but you can’t stop spring,” Pita said.
