Thai opposition leader to ‘fight tooth and nail’ for party survival

Former Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat reacts on the day Thailand’s Constitutional Court delivers its verdict on his media shareholding case, in Bangkok, Thailand, January 24, 2024. REUTERS

BANGKOK — Thailand’s opposition leader and former prime ministerial hopeful said on Tuesday his Move Forward Party will “fight tooth and nail” for its future amid legal threats that could see the pro-reform group dissolved and its leaders banned from politics.

Pita Limjaroenrat, who led the Move Forward party to an election victory last May on an anti-establishment platform but was unable to form a government, said the party could be the bridge to create a new political consensus in the country.

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“Instead of looking at us as a choice of the people and the enemy of the parliament, use us as a bridge,” he told Reuters in an interview.

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Pita’s Move Forward Party could be disbanded and leaders banned from politics after the country’s Constitutional Court last month said their plan to change a law on insulting the monarchy undermined the crown, paving the way for legal complaints.