BANGKOK – A Thai court on Jan 31 ruled that the biggest party in Parliament had violated the Constitution in seeking to change a law against insulting the monarchy, in what could set a precedent for any future review of one of the world’s strictest lese majeste laws.

The Move Forward Party (MFP) won the 2023 election on a progressive platform that included a once unthinkable proposal to amend the lese majeste law, which carries penalties of up to 15 years in jail for each perceived insult of Thailand’s powerful crown.

The Constitutional Court ordered MFP to abandon that plan, which it ruled was tantamount to an attempt to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state” and, therefore, in violation of the Constitution.

In a country where reverence for the monarch has for decades been promoted as central to national identity, the law, under which at least 260 people have been prosecuted in the past few years, is seen by many royalists as sacrosanct.

MFP’s proposal outraged conservatives and saw the party’s attempt to form a government torpedoed in 2023 by lawmakers allied with and appointed by the royalist military.

Though the court had no remit to prescribe punishments for the party, some politicians have suggested there could be legal efforts to seek its dissolution and political bans for its leaders over its stance on the monarchy law.

Mr Pita Limjaroenrat – who stepped down as MFP’s leader in 2023 and now acts as a senior adviser – said the ruling was a “lost opportunity” for Parliament to discuss an important issue.

He said the party had no wish to overthrow the Thai constitutional order.

“We refuse that the attempt was an alibi, nor was it an attempt to cause any deterioration of the monarchy, and did not have any intention of separating the monarchy with the national security,” he said in English after the verdict.

MFP’s forerunner, the Future Forward Party, was dissolved by court order in 2020, and Mr Pita said he was aware the same fate could await the party now.

“We are preparing accordingly,” he told reporters.

After MFP’s election success in 2023, Mr Pita was blocked from becoming prime minister by conservative forces in the Senate, ostensibly because of the threat he and the party posed to the monarchy.

Last week, he returned to Parliament after the Constitutional Court cleared him of breaching election laws in a separate case that could have seen him barred from politics.

The lese majeste law is intended to protect the king – a revered, semi-divine figure in Thai society – from insult.

But critics say the legislation has been interpreted so broadly in recent years as to shield the royal family from any kind of criticism or mockery.

Earlier in January, a man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for a series of Facebook posts deemed insulting to the monarchy.

In March 2023, a man was jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that a court said defamed the King.

The yellow bath toys were an unexpected symbol of mass youth-led street protests that shook Bangkok in 2020.

Reform of the lese majeste law, known in Thailand as 112 after the relevant section of the criminal code, was a major theme of the demonstrations, which saw unprecedented public criticism of the royal family.

More than 250 people have faced royal insult charges in the wake of the protests, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal group that handles many cases.

They include senior protest leaders and at least one elected MP.

Mr Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the former leader of the Future Forward Party, said before the Jan 31 ruling that lese majeste should be up for discussion.

“The law is not a fax paper sent from God. It’s written by human hands, therefore people can amend it,” he told reporters.

“If the lawmakers cannot amend the laws, I think something is wrong in the country.” REUTERS, AFP