United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) leader, Jatuporn Promphan, has repeated his advice that executive committee members of the Future Forward party, who are also MPs, resign their seats in parliament so their party-list seats can be filled by replacements from their membership before the Constitutional Court delivers its ruling on the “Illuminati”, or sedition case against the party on January 27th.
The chairman of the UDD said today that he believes the party will be found guilty of sedition, disbanded by the charter court and all committee members banished from politics for five years.
There are 11 members of the committee who are also party-list MPs. He said that, if they quit now and are replaced, the party will retain its seats in the House of Representatives. Otherwise, the 11 seats will be forfeited.
Jatuporn recommended that the Future Forward party prepare for the worst-case scenario.
As for Future Forward’s embattled leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the red-shirt leader said that Thanathorn might face criminal charges and be liable to imprisonment over the V Luck Media shareholding case, as a result of which he has already been stripped of his MP status by the Constitutional Court.
Citing his own experience in street politics, Jatuporn warned Thanathorn to think carefully before taking to the streets, saying that public protests must be well organized, otherwise reasons may be found to disperse it by force.
He also warned the Government not to try to interfere with the “Run against Dictatorship” event, scheduled for January 12th, saying that such unwarranted action may encourage more people to join the movement.
For the Opposition to replace the Government, he said the Opposition must be able to convince the electorate that the Government lacks legitimacy.
Regarding constitutional amendments, Jatuporn said attempts to amend the charter will fail due to Government reluctance and the pro-government Senate’s lack of support for the amendments.
