The Constitutional Court has ruled that Pita Limjaroenrat, the former leader of the election-winning Move Forward Party, did not hold shares in a media business when he applied to run for office last year, and his MP status remains intact.
The court stated on Wednesday that iTV Plc had ceased to be a media organisation in March 2007 when the government revoked its broadcasting licence for failure to pay fees.
A few minutes after the ruling, Mr Pita posted a photo on Facebook of himself and Move Forward leader Chaithawat Tulathon, with a message saying: “Thank you for all your support. I’ll move forward and keep working, no more waiting.”
There has been speculation that Mr Chaithawat would hand the Move Forward leadership back to Mr Pita, who stepped aside last year.
However, Mr Pita told reporters that a leadership change was not on the agenda of the party at the moment, adding that his MP role would depend on the party whips.
Mr Pita held 42,000 shares in iTV, or 0.0035% of the company's total, as the executor of the estate of his late father, their original owner. He transferred the shares to a relative last year after the holding was revealed.
The law that prohibits MPs from holding shares in a media business was intended to ensure that they could not influence news coverage.
The Constitutional Court suspended Mr Pita as an MP on July 19 last year when it accepted a complaint from the EC about the shares. On the same day, the joint House and Senate sitting voted to reject his renomination for prime minister. He had lost an earlier premiership vote the week before.
The Move Forward Party won the May 14, 2023, election with 151 House seats but it failed to form a government because the second runner-up Pheu Thai Party, which had 141 seats and was its former coalition ally, instead teamed up with 10 other parties and secured 320 votes in the 500-member House.
