Parliament, “Chaiwat”, leader of the Move Forward Party, regrets the opportunity, the court did not open the investigation, still believes in the legal arguments and facts, declares that on 8 August, he is still preparing to come to work in the parliament, asking live questions to the Prime Minister.
Mr. Chaiwat Tulathan, MP for the party list and leader of the Move Forward Party, talked about the case where the Constitutional Court scheduled a ruling on the case to dissolve the Move Forward Party on August 7th without opening an investigation as requested by the party. He said that the Constitutional Court stated that now there are only legal issues to consider. As for the issue of facts, the court saw that there was sufficient evidence, so it did not open another investigation. However, the court was of the opinion that the petition of the opposing party should be included in the case file. This probably means that in the case of the Move Forward Party, the petition that submitted the opinion of the witne
ss, Mr. Surapol Nitikraipot, an expert in public law, should be included. It should also include the petition that the Move Forward Party filed yesterday to object to the evidence, both the evidence of the EC and the evidence that the Constitutional Court had brought into this case.
Mr. Chaiwat said that at least even though there was no investigation, we would have additional witnesses. However, in the opinion of the Move Forward Party as the defendant, it is a pity that there was no investigation because in our view, there are still issues of fact that should be investigated to the fullest extent first. As for the legal issues, which the court saw as only legal issues left to consider, we are still confident in the legal arguments that we have fought, whether it is the issue that we fought that the EC’s petition process was unlawful, which I stated in more detail in my argument. We used the EC’s own documentary evidence to add weight to our argument on this issue, that the EC’s own evidence reaffirmed how
the process of filing a petition to dissolve the party in this case was unlawful.
‘We are still confident. As for other important legal issues, we are confident, such as the fight that the alleged actions of the Move Forward Party are not an overthrow or an antagonism to the government. Why is there no reason to dissolve the Move Forward Party? What the Move Forward Party can do from now on is to prepare a closing statement within July 24, with the court ordering it to be sent in a document because there is no opening of the hearing in front of the throne, meaning there is no oral closing statement. It will probably be sent in a document,’ said the Move Forward Party leader.
As for whether there have been discussions about whether the results will be negative or not, Mr. Chaithawat said that they have not discussed it yet because August 7 is Wednesday, and there will be a parliament meeting. They will have to discuss within the party what to do on August 7 and prepare how we will handle the hearing of the v
erdict, which will clash with the parliament meeting.
‘Right now, there are no internal problems. Most of what we are preparing for is to work normally according to the plan,’ said Mr. Chaithawat.
The leader of the Move Forward Party added that a long time has passed, everything has calmed down, everything has crystallized, meaning that this case has been here for several months, everything has calmed down within the party.
When asked again whether saying this meant that he was willing to accept if the party was dissolved, the leader of the Move Forward Party said that it was not a willing acceptance, but that he was still preparing to come to work on August 8.
‘To be honest, let me say this: I confirm that everything within the party is stable. We can manage. But we still believe that even if the court only decides on the legal issue, we believe that the legal issue is significant. If anyone has seen the evidence that I announced yesterday, which was not released, they will be even more confident,’ said
Chaithawat.
When asked again whether he had prepared anything if the party was dissolved, Mr. Chaiwat said that it was not yet time. We are waiting to hear the verdict first. It is not yet time to discuss that in the party.
As for concerns about the verdict, Mr. Chaiwat said that if the investigation were to be held, we would see that it would give us the opportunity to fight both legally and factually to the fullest extent, in proportion to the charges and punishments in this case, which would result in the dissolution of the political party. However, since the investigation was not held, at least we would be able to gather our additional petitions. As mentioned, both the witnesses, Mr. Surapol’s opinions, and the arguments against the evidence yesterday should add weight to our fight. We are not too worried, even though the court saw that only legal issues remain. We are still confident that our legal fight will have weight, which is at the court’s discretion. The defendant cannot interfere. It is just a
waste of an opportunity to make us look positively at all parties, that if the investigation were to be held so that the opposing parties could fight to their fullest potential, it would be good for accepting the verdict.
When asked if there was still a possibility that the party would be dissolved, Mr. Chaithawat said that later he said that it probably wouldn’t be dissolved.
When asked who told him, Mr. Chaithawat laughed but did not answer the question. He said that there is a chance now, so don’t jump to conclusions. The more we fight the case, the more confident we become. Everything has crystallized. There is no need to prepare anything at all. Just prepare to work.
The leader of the Move Forward Party concluded with a laugh that they would meet on August 8th, which is a work day. We set up a live question to ask the Prime Minister, who would come as the leader of the opposition.
Source: Thai News Agency