Since its establishment in October 1997, Thailand’s Constitutional Court has dissolved a staggering total of 111 political parties for various reasons.
The court’s decisions have stemmed from three major charges: failure to comply with rules and regulations (mainly the Political Parties Act), lacking qualifications for legal status as a party, and undermining or attempting to overthrow the country’s political system with the King as head of state.
The 111 parties were dissolved under the last three constitutions – 92 under the 1997 charter, 15 under the 2007 charter, and the rest under the current charter.
Critics argue that the court is being weaponised in a “lawfare” campaign against opponents of the conservative establishment. Proponents claim it is protecting democracy from abuse by unscrupulous political actors.
Four disbanded under current charter
Since the current Constitution came into force in April 2017, four political parties have been dissolved by the court.
They are Thai Raksa Chart in March 2019, Future Forward in February 2020, a micro-party called Thairaktham in October 2022, and Move Forward on August 7.
Most were dissolved because they failed to abide by requirements in relevant laws, such as the Constitution, electoral law, and the Political Parties Act.
The disbanded parties were mainly small and obscure, including Thairaktham, which was dissolved in October 2022 for breaching the Political Parties Act by offering incentives to attract members.
As in other dissolution rulings, the court also stripped the party’s executives of their electoral rights for 10 years.
However, several large and prominent parties have also faced disbandment at the Constitutional Court over the past 27 years since its inception.
Three Thaksin-linked parties terminated
The court has dissolved three parties linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The first was Thai Rak Thai, the party Thaksin founded that won three elections before being ousted by a military coup in 2006.
In May 2007, the court disbanded Thai Rak Thai for undermining the political system by hiring small parties to contest in the April 2006 general election. It also banned all 111 Thai Rak Thai executives from political involvement for five years.
The two small parties that colluded in the plot were also dissolved and their executives banned from politics.
Thaksin’s proxy People’s Power Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in December 2008 for electoral fraud, in a case brought to court by the Election Commission.
The court imposed a five-year political ban on all 37 party executives, including then-prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, who lost his top job.
In March 2019,
Thaksin’s proxy Thai Raksa Chart Party was dissolved for undermining the political system after nominating His Majesty the King’s elder sister, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, as its prime ministerial candidate. Its 37 executives were banned from politics for 10 years.
Reformist parties in the dock
The reformist Future Forward Party was next to be dissolved by the Constitutional Court, which ruled in February 2020 that a party loan of 191 million baht by leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit was an illegal donation under the Political Parties Act.
All 16 party executives, including Thanathorn, were banned from politics for 10 years.
Future Forward’s remaining key figures and MPs shifted to a new home, Move Forward, while maintaining their close ties with Thanathorn and other banned politicians.
Thanathorn, who is from a wealthy business family, reportedly retained influence over his party’s reincarnation.
However, Move Forward lasted barely four years before being dissolved earlier this month when the Constitutional Court ruled in a unanimous vote that it had undermined or attempted to topple the political system with the King as state head by seeking to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code, aka the lese majeste law.
The court also imposed a 10-year political ban on the party’s 11 executives.
Democrats spared
At least one major party has survived scrutiny by Constitutional Court judges. In 2010, the ruling Democrat Party faced two dissolution cases filed with the court.
However, the country’s oldest political party managed to escape intact after the court dismissed both cases.
The party was accused of misusing election funds and failing to declare a political donation from a giant cement company. But the court in December 2010 found that the prosecution had failed to follow proper legal procedures, and dismissed both cases on legal technicalities.
