A Thai opposition leader loses his seat in parliament but battles on
Nov 21st 2019BANGKOKEVEN AFTER the verdict of Thailand’s constitutional court on November 20th, supporters of the Future Forward party, gathered outside, kept signing a portrait. It showed a beaming Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the party. His actual face was far more grave as he sat in the courtroom, listening as the judges retroactively disqualified him from the election in March at which he became an MP. The decision marks the start of what will probably prove a prolonged period of difficulty for Mr Thanathorn and his party. The case turned on Mr Thanathorn’s ownership of shares in v-Luck Media. Under Thailand’s constitution and its web of election laws, owners of shares in media firms are barred from running for parliament. Mr Thanathorn (pictured) insists that before the election was called he sold his shares in V-Luck, publisher of glossy magazines such as Jibjib (Cheep cheep), the hard-hitting inflight publication of Nok Air, a budget airline. What is more, V-Luck ceased publishing months ago. But the court, which sees no problem with military coups, quibbled about how long it took him to cash the cheque from the sale and noted that the documents proving his case came from the company, not from regulators. For Mr Thanathorn, whose family owns a giant auto-parts firm, publishing was only a tiny sideline, even when v-Luck was a going concern. He says the case was trumped up for political reasons. He recently sued the seven election commissioners for rushing it to court. They deny wrongdoing.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address