People’s party vows no letup in fight for people-centred democratic system

The opposition People’s party will not shy away from speaking out on controversial issues in the public’s interest and will advance, with the people, to affect political change and bring about a democratic system that truly serves the public interest, said party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut today.

He was speaking after the Supreme Court decided to spare him and nine other party MPs from being suspended from performing their parliamentary duties.

The court did agree, however, to accept for consideration the case submitted by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), accusing 44 former members of the now defunct Move Forward party, including 10 current People’s party MPs, of committing gross ethical misconduct by endorsing a bill to amend Section 112 of the Criminal Code, widely known as the lèse majesté law.

The party has vowed to fight the case.

Natthaphong said that they simply endorsed the bill to emend the lèse majesté law, which is a lawful act by an MP, and had no intention whatsoever to undermine or topple constitutional democracy with the King as the head of the state.

He emphasised that the political aspiration of the People’s party and its predecessors has been and is a democratic system, equipped with a workable mechanism to check and balance the power of all parties, to ensure that they are of equal standard, to protect the public interest and to negate the influence of vested interests by any individual or group.

He also said that the party wants to see an end to the use of lawfare to perpetuate the current political system, which is a legacy of the coup makers used to protect the interests of the elites and some political groupings.

The People’s party leader cited what he described as a double-standard by the NACC, over its recent decision to clear former transport minister and former secretary-general of the Bhumjaithai party, Saksayam Chidchob, of charges for making a false declaration of his assets, which led to his disqualification as a minister by the Constitutional Court.

The party is collecting signatures among MPs and senators to petition the Supreme Court to probe the NACC over alleged abuse of power in Saksayam’s case, which the party insists contradicts the Constitutional Court’s ruling.