The United Thai Nation Party (UTN) launched a campaign on Thursday calling for an end to violence against women after an MP from the Move Forward Party (MFP) was accused of physically assaulting his girlfriend.
The UTN urged the public to join its campaign by posting a hand stop sign bearing the message "Stop Violence Against Women" and using the hashtag "MP assaulting a woman" on its social media accounts.
Several party members led by party secretary-general Akanat Promphan joined the campaign. Mr Akanat also wrote that he felt revolted by the alleged assault.
"I feel disgusted. But this violence continues, and many of these cases involve high-profile figures. It's time to stop," Mr Akanat wrote.
The UTN online campaign comes hot on the heels of the accusation against the MFP MP who allegedly assaulted his 26-year-old girlfriend while driving to a golf course in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district on June 23.
The woman, who claimed to have been dating the MP for about a month, claimed she was punched in the face and dragged out of the car by her hair before her phone was thrown onto the roadside.
She filed a complaint at Bo Win police station on Tuesday and posted the complaint and photos of bruises on her body on Instagram.
The MP for Bangkok Sirin Sanguansin on Thursday apologised to his girlfriend, her family and the public on Facebook, saying he was ready to face legal and disciplinary action from the party.
Mr Sirin also rejected as untrue reports in which he was quoted as saying that he assaulted his girlfriend "out of concern". He said he never gave an interview about the incident and had never thought of defending his actions with such an excuse.
An MFP source said the pair were summoned to meet Bo Win police today to settle the dispute.
Sawang Boonmee, secretary-general of the Election Commission, said on Thursday it was too soon to discuss a by-election to replace the accused MP. He said a by-election is held when an MP resigns, is convicted, or cannot find a new party within the required deadline after being expelled by their party.
