The Constitutional Court has extended its deliberation of cases involving charges brought against former PM candidate Pita Limjaroenrat and the Move Forward Party (MFP) to next Wednesday.

On 15 November, The Constitutional Court met to discuss an Election Commission (EC) request for a ruling on whether Pita’s standing as a parliamentarian should be ended because he held shares in a defunct media company when he applied for party-list candidacy, a technical violation of electoral rules.  The Constitutional Court accepted the petition and on 19 July ordered Pita to suspend his duties as an MP until it reached a verdict.  Pita subsequently gave testimony, presented material witnesses, and submitted documents to the court on 2 and 18 October.

The same day, the Court also discussed a petition filed by lawyer Theerayut Suwankesorn against MFP for campaigning to repeal the royal defamation law.  The court was asked to consider whether the campaign was an attempt to overthrow the democratic regime with the King as the head of state.  A guilty verdict might result in the party being dissolved.

Theerayut served a lawyer for the monk Buddha Issara, a People’s Democratic Reform Committee protest leader who now goes by his layman’s name Suwit Thongprasert.

The court ruled that both cases require further deliberation and will meet again on 22 November. 

The MFP media team revealed that it has not yet received a summons regarding further examinations and called upon the Court to notify parties in advance.