By Sui Lee Wee and Muktita Suhartono

BANGKOK — The party was dismissed by the establishment as too liberal, too radical, even revolutionary. But it scored a stunning victory in Thailand’s election last year, as millions of voters delivered a rebuke to the country’s monarchy, its military and its moneyed elite.

The old guard reacted swiftly, moving to crush its most formidable challenger in decades. Conservative politicians prevented the Move Forward Party’s leader from becoming prime minister and engineered a coalition that kept the party out of power.

On Wednesday (7), their quest to reverse the election results seemed complete: Move Forward was disbanded by Thailand’s Constitutional Court over charges that the party’s proposals to water down a stringent royal defamation law were an attempt to overthrow the monarchy. The nine-member court in Bangkok ruled unanimously.

It also banned from politics for a decade nearly a dozen party operatives, including Pita Limjaroenrat, its former leader, and four other elected members. The other 140 or so Move Forward members of parliament were given two months to join another party. They are expected to remain the core of the opposition in the 500-seat legislature.

At a news conference after the decision, Pita said that his colleagues plan to unveil a new party Friday (9) — one that he will not be a part of — and strive to lead an opposition that is not squashed by the establishment.

“We’ll try our best to break that cycle so that Thailand becomes fully democratic,” he said.

In Thailand, which has had a dozen coups in the past century, elections are often meant to provide a junta with a veneer of democracy. The vote in May 2023, held after nearly a decade of stultifying military rule, was expected to be no different.

In recent decades, Thai politics have been dominated by clashes between the entrenched royalist-military establishment and forces allied to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist billionaire. Another tycoon, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, shook the status quo several years ago with calls for reducing the military’s influence in politics and equitably distributing wealth. But his Future Forward Party ran afoul of the junta and was disbanded in 2020.

That catalyzed a wave of anti-junta protests. Many young people openly criticized the king’s lavish wealth, a topic previously thought of as taboo. Dozens were punished under Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law, which makes it a crime to criticize the king or certain members of his family.

Move Forward effectively succeeded the Future Forward Party. It tapped into that anti-establishment sentiment during last year’s election. The party campaigned on proposals to shrink the army’s budget, abolish conscription and break up big businesses like Thailand’s alcohol monopoly. And it called for weakening the lèse-majesté law, a demand that would eventually lead to its undoing.

Move Forward’s victory at the polls was remarkable and unexpected. It captured a broad array of support across age groups and regions, winning in places like Phuket, once a military and conservative stronghold, and Bangkok, the capital.

Its platform included legalizing same-sex marriage and establishing a $13 daily minimum wage. Unlike other political parties in Thailand, which depend on rich megadonors, it relied on smaller donations from the public so it could stay independent.

It also had a consistent message: that it would never cooperate with the generals who seized power in the 2014 coup. It embraced several young protesters who participated in the 2020 demonstrations in Bangkok, integrating them into the party.

Move Forward called for reducing the jail terms of people who had violated the lèse-majesté law and making the Bureau of the Royal Household the only agency allowed to bring suits under the law. Currently, any Thai citizen can file such complaints, and Move Forward said the law was being used as a political weapon.

More than 270 people have been charged under the law since 2020, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a watchdog.

Pita, a charismatic Harvard University graduate and an astute user of social media, said his party’s proposals were a “middle path.” He pointed out that a former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, had agreed to look into overhauling the lèse-majesté law in 2009. However Thai royalists argued that amending it could eventually lead to abolishing the monarchy altogether.

“What I like about the Move Forward Party is that they want to change everything,” said Nuntiwa Chunta, 53, who was among supporters who gathered near the court for Wednesday’s verdict. “They want to change the structure from what it is now.”

Move Forward’s platform put it on a collision course with Thailand’s two dominant institutions, the military and the palace — both of which have “consolidated their powers” to an unprecedented level, according to Thongchai Winichakul, a Thai historian and emeritus professor at the University of Wiscaonsin-Madison.

“In their view, MFP is the enemy that they have to get rid of as soon as possible,” Thongchai said, using an acronym for Move Forward.

Move Forward had its share of critics. Detractors have called party officials “childish” or “too radical.” Some analysts questioned whether it had the mettle to govern the country.

But the royalist-military order saw the party as a threat. First, a military-appointed Senate blocked Pita from becoming prime minister. Then, Move Forward lost a coalition partner, Pheu Thai, a party founded by Thaksin, which started an alliance with conservative and military-backed parties.

That pushed Move Forward into the opposition. A few months later, in January, the Constitutional Court ruled that Move Forward’s campaign to weaken the royal defamation law was tantamount to treason.

In February, Pita, along with senior leaders from the now-defunct Future Forward, was handed a suspended two-year sentence after being found guilty of organizing a protest in 2019. He was effectively banned from the premiership for two years.

Move Forward’s political troubles did not appear to dent its popularity. A poll of 2,000 people conducted in March by Thailand’s National Institute of Development Administration, a graduate school and research agency, found that Pita was their top pick for prime minister, and 48.5% of them said they would vote for Move Forward if the election were held that day.

-New York Times