Thai court to give verdict on main opposition party dissolution

Bangkok: Thailand's Constitutional Court announced on Wednesday it will deliver its verdict for a case seeking to disband the main opposition Move Forward Party on August 7.

The judges agreed that the case is a dispute on legal technicalities and there is enough evidence to make a ruling, the court said in a statement.

The case came after the country's Election Commission petitioned the court to dissolve the Move Forward Party over its efforts to amend the royal defamation law, claiming campaigning on the issue had violated the constitution, Xinhua news agency reported.

In January, the same court ruled that the Move Forward Party's campaign to change the royal insult law was an attempt to undermine the constitutional monarchy and ordered it to cease any efforts aiming to abolish or amend the law.

The lese-majeste law, or Section 112 of the Criminal Code, stipulates that whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years.

The Move Forward Party emerged as the largest party in the lower house of the National Assembly in Thailand's general election last year, but its prime minister candidate fell short of securing the majority support of the parliamentarians.