Free and Fair? Dissolution of Party Adds to Thai Election Doubts
- Constitutional Court disbanded the Thai Raksa Chart party
- Critics say junta creating repressive backdrop for poll
Members of Thai Raksa Chart Party wave to supporters during a rally on March 1, 2019.
Photographer: Chaiwat Subprasom/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
The dissolution of a Thai political party that opposed military rule is fueling doubts over whether the country’s first election since a coup in 2014 will be free and fair.
A court on Thursday ordered the break up of Thai Raksa Chart, a party linked to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, for hostility to the constitutional monarchy. Its removal hurts the poll strategy devised by Thaksin’s supporters, and may boost the Thai junta leader’s push to return as prime minister.