Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
The Constitutional Court is set to rule this afternoon whether Future Forward Party has broken the law by obtaining loans totaling over 191 million baht from its leader Thanathorn Jungroongruangkit. A guilty verdict would put an end to the meteoric rise of the young political party which has been making political waves with its
The Future Forward party’s ambitious attempt to put an end to coups in Thailand, through the setting up of a House committee to study ways and means to prevent them, was thwarted when 242 MPs voted to reject the proposal against 215 in favour, with two abstentions. Future Forward secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, who initiated the
Pheu Thai party spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard has challenged the excuses offered by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and Interior Minister Anupong Paochai justifying their continued stay in military welfare housing, despite having retired from the military service. The Prime Minister cited security concerns for his continued stay in a military
According to the Future Forward party’s closing statement, which was released today by party secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, the Constitutional Court has no power to dissolve the party or to ban its executive committee from politics for five years and, hence, the court must dismiss the loan case filed against the party by the Election Commission
The Future Forward party has been dealt a huge and embarrassing setback because it has been disclosed that its deputy leader, Lt-Gen Pongsakorn Rodchomphu, has been living in an army welfare housing unit since his retirement, just as the party campaigns for military reforms, including solving the problem of retired officers still living in welfare
The government’s chief whip says there would be no objection to the Opposition questioning the performance of the previous administration, also under the premiership of General Prayut Chan-o-cha, if such matters occupy no more than 20% of the allotted 3 days of the censure debate, due to start on Monday. Earlier, the Opposition announced that
Former leader of Pheu Thai party, Yongyuth Vichaidit, was today sent to prison to serve his two-year sentence after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal to the high court. Mr. Yongyuth was sentenced, by the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Cases, for malfeasance in office over his role in the Alpine golf course
More than 3,000 people, from various occupations and backgrounds, have signed up to an online campaign protesting the possible dissolution of the Future Forward party by the Constitutional Court. The campaign, named “Open Political Space for All Political Camps to Sign Up to Protest the Dissolution of Future Forward party”, on the change.org website, was
The Future Forward party has been planning its censure debate against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha since last October and has codenamed their strategy “Project Pinocchio”, party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit told a news conference today at the party’s head office. He explained the name, saying that this fictional character was always making mistakes and tried to
Representatives of a brand-new political party, founded by former Democrat deputy leader Korn Chatikavanij, went to the office of the Election Commission (EC) this morning to register “Kla” (Dare) as the party’s name. “Kla” was chosen from thousands of entries submitted by members of the public and screened by a party committee. The party has
The House of Representatives has passed the third reading of the 3.2 trillion baht budget bill for the 2020 fiscal year with 257 votes for, 1 against and 3 abstentions. The six opposition parties, led by the Pheu Thai party, boycotted the meeting, although they had confirmed their attendance to enable the meeting to proceed.
Five former leaders of the anti-Thaksin movement, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), were sentenced to imprisonment from 1-2 years without suspension this morning for their lead role in the illegal intrusion into the state-owned NBT television station and Radio Thailand in August 2008. The five, namely Somkiat Pongpaibul, Ms. Anchalee Paireerat, Puvadol Songprasert, Yutthiyong
