Thailand’s Constitutional Court has ruled that Pita Limjaroenrat did not violate the country’s election law.
This represents a major step forward, especially for the part of the electorate that gave the founder of the Move Forward party the most votes in last May’s election, but not enough to form a government and reform the country. Instead, once rival groups created an unprecedented coalition.
Pita was tried because candidates running for office cannot own communication media.
The 43-year-old inherited from his father shares in iTV, a company that once operated a defunct independent television station, and still held them when he applied to run for office. For the court, this does not constitute sufficient grounds for exclusion.
One consequence of the decision is that Pita will be able to take his seat in Parliament. When he was charged with breaking the law, following complaints by political adversaries, he was suspended from the legislature after it opened in July.
His party can play a more active role from now on, especially since the incumbent government led by Srettha Thavisin, the result of the coalition of his Pheu Thai party and the pro-military Palang Prachrath, is showing little incisiveness.
Pita will also have to get ready for another challenge, that of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who will soon be released from prison, and remains a key figure for the Pheu Thai party (in its various incarnations).
After he returned from voluntary exile in August 2023, Thaksin was jailed, but his sentence was commuted by the king. Just before that, he had been hospitalized for some undisclosed ailment.
At present, his daughter, Paetongtarn, heads Pheu Thai, allowing him to make a political comeback thanks to the party’s substantial popular support.
Amid what appears to be a lull in the fight for the control of the country, Move Forward, with the return of its founder, can expect its prospects to rule improve, whether alone or in coalition.
It also appears to encourage those Thais, especially young people and urban residents, who want changes, limiting the power of the military and traditional elites, and opening the door to new opportunities, greater equality, and respect for fundamental rights.
