By Thai Newsroom Reporters
NO MOVE FORWARD MPs, most of whom concurrently perform as members of the opposition party’s executive board, are going to resign as elected lawmakers and be replaced by somebody else on a party list anytime soon, Move Forward spokesperson Parit Wacharasindhu said today (Mar. 19).
None of the five Move Forward MPs, especially including former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat, is going to resign as elected legislators in the face of the possibility that their party might be dissolved by court as soon as early next month, according to the party spokesperson.
Parit was responding to speculation that those Move Forward MPs would sooner than later step down as elected legislators so they could be automatically replaced by those earlier named as party-list candidates running in last year’s general election.
Except for Pita who had earlier performed as a member of the Move Forward’s executive board, all the others are sitting on it and performing as MPs in concurrent fashion.
In case that the Constitutional Court delivered a ruling to dissolve the Move Forward on grounds of allegedly attempting to amend the draconian lese majeste law, also known as Section 112 of the Criminal Code, all eight current members of the progressive party’s executive board would consequently be prohibited from political activity for a number of years.
Among the total of eight Move Forward executive board members, four are concurrently performing as MPs, namely Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon, Move Forward secretary-general Apichart Sirisunthorn, MP Bencha Sangchan and MP Suthep Oo-un.
The four members of the Move Forward’s current executive board are among a total of 39 Move Forward MPs elected in party-list mode as elected lawmakers.
Pita who topped the list of Move Forward candidates running in party-list mode in last year’s election had earlier resigned from the party’s executive board in the face of a lawsuit earlier filed against his having held a tiny fraction of shares in a non-operating ITV Channel which was finally lifted by court.
Pita who is not sitting on the party’s executive board and is merely performing as a party-listed MP after he had been earlier suspended by court from doing his legislative duties pending a verdict on the ITV shares case would be also banned from political activity if his party was dissolved by court because such legal penalty would be practically retroactive for last year during which he had sat on it and the lese majeste law had been allegedly tampered by the progressive party during their nationwide electoral campaigns.
The Constitutional Court is scheduled tomorrow to decide whether to accept the Election Commission’s petition earlier filed in pursuit of a dissolution of the Move Forward for publicly-pledged attempts to amend the lese majeste law.
The Constitutional Court had earlier ruled the Move Forward moves toward amendment to the lese majeste law as being tantamount to a “corrosive” act which could possibly lead to an ultimate undermining of rule unless immediately put to an end.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat, left, and current leader, Chaithawat Tulathon with the Constitutional Court logo in the background. Photo: Matichon
Insert: Move Forward spokesman Parit Wacharasindhu. Photo: Thai Rath
Front Page: Move Forward victory parade in Nonthaburi on May 18, 2023. Photo: Thai Rath
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