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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Rebecca Ratcliffe South-east Asia correspondent

Court bans largest Thai political party over pledge to change lese-majesty law

Pita Limjaroenrat
Former leader of the Move Forward party and former prime minister candidate Pita Limjaroenrat at the party's headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

Thailand’s constitutional court has ordered the dissolution of the country’s most popular party, and banned its leaders from politics for 10 years, over its election promise to reform the country’s strict lese-majesty law.

Move Forward, a youthful pro-reform party, won the most votes in the 2023 election after pledging major changes to the country’s political system, including a promise to amend a law that punishes criticism of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison for a single charge. However, the party and its leader were blocked from taking power by military royalist opponents, and have since faced legal cases.

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