Sirikanya Tansakul Expected To Lead MFP's Successor Party, Launch Scheduled For Friday

All deputies from the dissolved Move Forward Party (MFP), save for eleven executives who were handed 10-year bans from politics, are expected to transition to a new party on Friday, according to communique from senior MFP officials. The swift implementation of contingency measures after the dissolution of the MFP comes as no surprise, given the earlier signals that the party was making preparations for such a scenario and setting up an alternative political vehicle for its reformist agenda.

• Source reports noted that the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party (TKCV) will adopt all ex-MFP MPs, who have to find a new party within 60 days or lose their seats. It is widely expected that the party will be led by economist Sirikanya Tansakul, who was not part of the MFP's executive committee and hence avoided individual penalties.
• The rest of the executive committee is yet to be selected, but there is already speculation concerning Sirikanya's number 2. The Nation notes that there is apprehension among MPs about taking executive positions in the wake of yesterday's court verdict, as it can make them future targets for political bans.
• A group of 44 MPs, including Sirikanya, is still facing legal action over their decision to sign a bill to amend the lese-majeste law in 2021. They are being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which can request lifetime bans from running in elections.
• The Thai Enquirer flags that one of the big questions now is "whether or not every ex-MP who belonged to the MFP will go to the same successor party," which follows earlier reports pointing to attempts by ruling coalition parties to poach some MPs. Worth noting that none of the "cobras" (as such MPs are called locally" won re-election in 2023.