Thai political optimism clears first legal obstacle

Thailand’s political leader will be back as a member of parliament after winning a trial. His supporters believe the trial was meant to stop him from being a politician.

Pita Limjaroenrat, who went to Harvard, and his party Move Forward, won the most votes in a big election last year.

However, he was not able to lead because the Senate, which was not elected by the people, stopped him.

The charming young leader was seen as a problem for the government because he said he would change the strict insult laws and reduce the power of the military.

After winning the election, he was trying to form a government with others, but then he got sued two times. His followers thought that this was part of a bigger plan by conservative politicians to remove him from politics and make his party’s ideas look bad.

On Wednesday, he was found not guilty in the first case, but he has another more serious legal problem next week.

The Constitutional Court will make a decision about whether his plan to change Thailand’s strict lese majeste law was an attempt to overthrow the government with the king as the leader.

A decision saying that Move Forward did something against the rules could make it shut down, and its leaders could be told they can’t be in politics anymore.

In 2019, the court ended Move Forward’s old form called Future Forward because it did well in an election. The decision caused many people to have protests on the streets and to say things that were not said before about the king and queen.

On Wednesday, Pita’s fans cheered outside the Constitutional Court after hearing that he had won his case. They chanted “PM Pita” to celebrate his victory.

Luksikarn Tangchotithanavid, 40, said that Pita told us to live with hope.

“Our generation can understand the law when we read it. ” We understand what it says and how to do it. By the law, he should not be kicked out in this situation.

Mr Pita was found not guilty of breaking election laws by owning shares in a media company while running in last year’s election.

He was told he could not be an MP anymore last July because of the accusations. He was also not allowed to go to parliament, so he had to quit leading his party.

He says he got the shares from his dad, but the company wasn’t running for a long time before he became a politician. Most of the judges agreed with him when they made their decision on Wednesday.

“Keeping the stocks was not against the law. ” The judge said that the court decided he is still a member of parliament.

Before the decision was made, Mr. Pita also spoke to the reporters and said he will continue to push for the changes his party had said they would make.

In addition to changing the lese majeste law, they also want to stop big companies from having too much power and reduce the military’s role in politics and business. This platform was very popular in the 2023 election. It helped Move Forward win 151 out of the 500 seats in parliament, more than any other party.

He said on Wednesday before the decision that he will keep working for the people no matter what happens. “This court case is just a temporary change of plans. ” No matter the decision, we will keep on fighting.

Under the rule of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Thailand has been using lese majeste laws more to quiet people who criticize the government. Over 260 people have been accused of breaking the law since November 2020.

A 30-year-old man was given a 50-year jail sentence for making comments that were found to have insulted the Thai king. This was the harshest punishment ever given under the country’s strict lese majeste laws.