Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’sConstitutional Court on February 21 issued a verdict dissolving the FutureForward Party (FFP).
The partywas found to have violated laws governing political parties by accepting a loanworth about 6 million USD from its young tycoon leader, ThanathornJuangroongruangkit, to fund an electoral campaign.
Laws related to political parties in Thailand say that no oneare allowed to donate cash, assets or other benefits worth more than 10 million baht (320,000 USD) to a politicalparty.
The partydenied the allegation, saying that a loan cannot be counted as a donation sincethe party agreed to pay back the debt to Thanathorn.
With theverdict, 16 leaders of the party, including Thanathorn, were banned frompolitics for a decade.
Because 11of the executives also serve as members of parliaments (MPs), the rulingsubsequently shrank the number of the party’s seats in the Parliament down to68.
The rest ofthe MPs must find a new party within the next 60 days to keep their lawmakerstatus.
Founded in2019, the Future Forward Party won 80 out of 500 seats at the house ofrepresentatives in the general election in March 2019./.
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