Thai court clears ex-PM candidate Pita of violating poll law, reinstates him as MP

In the first of two trials aimed at the anti-establishment opposition Move Forward Party, a Thai court decided on Wednesday that former prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat had not broken any election laws and may continue to serve as a legislator. Pita, 43, a Harvard graduate whose attempt to become prime minister was blocked by parliamentarians supporting the royalist military, was exonerated of all charges when the court decided that the firm he had stock in had no broadcast license and wasn’t a mass media entity. The decision will benefit the progressive Move Forward, which was the surprise winner of last year’s election after attracting young and urban voters with an ambitious platform to remove business monopolies and alter a law that punishes insults to the monarchy with lengthy jail sentences. Move Forward, Thailand’s largest party in parliament, remains a long-term danger to the existing quo, appealing to liberal and young voters with charismatic candidates and innovative use of social media. The same court will next week decide whether Move Forward’s plan was unconstitutional and tantamount to an attempt to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as the head of state”. The two cases, brought by conservative politicians, are part of a two-decade battle for power in Thailand that broadly pits a nexus of royalists, military and old money families against parties elected on populist or progressive platforms. Move Forward’s predecessor, Future Forward, was on the wrong end of two Constitutional Court rulings from 2019 to 2020, with then leader and prime minister candidate Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit disqualified, also over a shareholding violation, and the party disbanded for breaching campaign funding rules.