Constitutional Court Kicks Can Down Road On Move Forward Party Dissolution

The Constitutional Court decided against accepting a petition to disband the Move Forward Party (MFP), which controls a plurality of seats (148) in the House of Representatives and leads parliamentary opposition. The judicial body said it was seeking more documents to inform its final verdict.

• The request to dissolve the MFP was filed by the Election Commission (EC) after the party was deemed guilty of trying to overthrow the monarchy by pushing for amendments to Thailand's strict lese-majeste law.
• The Constitutional Court said that some of the evidence submitted by the EC was unclear and gave the electoral body seven days to to supply additional documents, without specifying when it will decide whether to accept the case.
• During the same meeting, the top court rejected a petition against the ruling Pheu Thai Party (PTP), who were accused of similar transgressions, on both procedural and substantive grounds.