Thanathorn Jungrungruengkit and his party, which was formed in March last year, has been popular with the younger generation and according to unofficial election results, appears to have beaten old favourites like the Democrat Party.

The billionaire-turned-politician posted an image of the summonses on his Facebook page on Wednesday, saying this was an old political game.

It is believed that this post will motivate his supporters to show up at the police station on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Pol Maj-General Pattana Petyanawin, chief commander of city police, said he has already told Pathum Wan Police Station’s Pol Colonel Thammanoon Boonrueng to make preparations for Thanathorn’s visit.

He added that everything will be under control and peace will be maintained despite the expected large crowd. Pattana added that people who want to hold a demonstration on that day can do so, provided they seek permission and follow the law.

On Wednesday Thanathorn said he had no idea why he was being accused of sedition. He speculated that the legal action, which he referred to as “just an old political game”, was launched because his party did far better at the polls than expected.

“They are afraid because our policies drew the attention of 6.3 million voters,” he said. “These people supported us without us having to offer them any money incentives or other influence.”

However, deputy National Police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul dismissed claims of the warrant being politically motivated, saying that the charge is related to a case that happened in 2015, before the current Constitution went into effect.

On June 24, 2015 at about 10pm, a group of seven suspects, including Rangsiman Rome, refused to acknowledge the charges they faced at Pathum Wan Police Station, and instead waited nearby. They were later picked up by a white mini-van, which belonged to a firm owned by Thanathorn’s mother, Somporn.

Srivara claimed that Thanathorn was with the suspects on that day and that Somporn was aware of the case and had assigned lawyers to handle it.

“I can confirm that Thanathorn’s summonses is not politically motivated as the incident took place before the election. The proceedings were delayed due to the annual transfers of chief investigators,” he said.

The Bhumjaithai Party — meaning “Thai Pride” — is fronted by mega-wealthy Anutin Charnvirakul, an amateur pilot, son of a construction tycoon and unlikely proponent of the medical benefits of marijuana.

Thailand held its first election since a 2014 coup last month, and Bhumjaithai has emerged as a key partner after winning 39 constituency seats in the lower house and finishing fifth in the popular vote.

Their campaign made waves by slapping green marijuana leaves on posters. It also touts deregulation for businesses, promotion of ride-hailing services and a four-day work week.

Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to approve cannabis use for medical purposes in December, but Bhumjaithai wants to allow households to grow six plants each in a decriminalised approach loosely based on the US state of California.

“Marijuana has more positive properties than negative,” the 52-year-old told AFP in an interview in his sleek Bangkok office almost two weeks after the March 24 poll.

The office has small airplane models, sculptures, and paintings of Thailand’s king and his late father.

Educated at Hofstra University in New York, Anutin maintains in the hallway a collection of original signatures of US presidents dating back to George Washington.

Dressed in a suit and drinking tea, the 52-year-old explained that his policies must be backed by groups looking for support in coalitions.

“We have to go with the party that will accept our policies,” he said, adding that he wants people to have access to the budding industry so big corporations don’t swoop in.

The choice is between the junta-backed Phalang Pracharat Party, which has clinched the popular vote, or Pheu Thai, which has formed an alliance with six other anti-junta parties and claims a majority in the lower house.

Analysts have also mentioned Anutin as a possible prime minister in a grand bargain that would include his party’s loyalty.

While he declined to specify which way he is leaning before full results are announced on May 9, Anutin said Bhumjaithai is looking for parties that emphasise unity, a “Thailand first” approach and reverence for the monarchy.

Both of the top two parties remained tight-lipped Wednesday on whether they had approached Anutin for an alliance.

Pheu Thai is linked to self-exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

He was also stripped of his royal decorations on Saturday.

The administration of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck was toppled in the 2014 power grab led by former army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha.

Prayut is now standing for prime minister for Phalang Pracharat.

While a junta-appointed senate gets to cast votes for the top position, analysts say Phalang Pracharat still needs mid-sized parties like Bhumjaithai in the lower house to avoid a legitimacy crisis.

Anutin expressed a general weariness with the bitter political divides that had crippled Thailand for more than a decade.

“I don’t want partisans,” he said. “I want everyone to join in together and seek the best solution for the country.”

RIGHTS advocates hit out at the junta yesterday after its legal officer filed a complaint against Future Forward Party (FWP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, accusing him of sedition.

Local rights watchdog iLaw yesterday hinted that the charges pressed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) or its officers were political in nature.

Thanathorn, whose party won more than 80 seats in the Lower House on its electoral debut, posted a picture of the warrant on his social-media accounts. The document shows he is being accused of violating the sedition law that carries a maximum punishment of seven years in jail.

The warrant requested the politician to report to Pathum Wan Police Station in Bangkok on Saturday.

Thanathorn wrote in the caption: “I will report to them as requested to prove that I have no guns, prison or laws at my disposal. I only have people who love justice by my side.” The post went viral soon after and #SaveThanathorn became the top trending hashtag in Thailand with more than 340,000 tweets.

The accusation reportedly dates back to an incident in 2015, when anti-junta student activists resisted detention by the authority. Thanathorn is accused of providing a vehicle for the students to flee.

A warrant was also issued yesterday for his colleague and FWP secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, summoning him to testify in another case related to the party’s statement on the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart Party.

Thanathorn said he had anticipated that the authority would try to corner his party and colleagues with allegations and prosecution.

“We have no fear and we will move in a straightforward manner. We might be a threat to anti-democracy military but not to national security,” he told reporters.

“I wonder how the call for the restoration of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law could be regarded as extreme leftist,” Thanathorn said, referring to a provocative statement made by Army chief Apirat Kongsompong on Monday.

In a strong statement, the Army commander denounced foreign-educated individuals for bringing their extreme leftist ideology to topple the constitutional monarchy regime. The message, according to political observers, was a direct attack on the Future Forward Party for its popular movement against the junta.

“I don’t know what message Khun Apirat wants to convey and why he has to make people hate us and waste our time to clear his allegations,” Thanathorn said. “We want to save our time to work for the people.”

Fate of junta critics

Following the development, iLaw wrote on its Facebook page yesterday that this was not the first time someone who had opposed the ruling regime has been hit with a sedition charge.

After the 2014 coup, at least 66 people had been accused of this crime. Among them were prime opponents of the NCPO such as politician Chaturon Chaisang and activists Sombat Boonngamanong and Pansak Srithep.

“According to our records, it cannot be denied that those charged with these cases took a clear stance against the NCPO,” iLaw said.

The organisation also published an article on the use of the sedition law against the regime’s opponents since 2015 to show its relevance to the current development.

According to the article, the legal actions could be aimed at intimidating, burdening, justifying their detention or to try the accused in a military court, whose conduct and judgements have often been questioned by rights advocates.

Senior researcher of Human Rights Watch in Thailand, Sunai Phasuk, yesterday said the criminal cases against the leader of Future Forward Party were the latest examples of the junta’s contempt for the right to freedom of expression and peaceful dissent.

“The arbitrary prosecution of dissidents and critics that has been going on for more than four years shows the junta has no commitment to fulfil its promises to make Thailand a rights-respecting democratic country,” he told The Nation. “What happens in reality is entrenched dictatorship.”

CDC member Praphan Naikovit, who was once a member of the Election Commission (EC), met with election commissioners yesterday to discuss the formula that should be used to determine the number of MPs following an extensive debate on the interpretation of laws and formula.

After the discussion, Praphan told the press that this method had been finalised since the Constitution was written and amended during the process of drawing up the MP election law. “We’ve also considered the case of the extra numbers,” he said, referring to complications stemming from Pheu Thai getting more constituency seats than it was allocated mathematically. “This was done before we wrote the law. The calculation method is available for the public through the Parliament office.”

The document shown in the Parliament website suggests that the formula used to calculate how many MPs each party will get is the one that allows smaller parties to get seats in the Lower House.

Most small parties have won between 30,000 and 70,000 votes, while initial calculation suggested that a party must win at least 71,057.50 votes to get an MP seat.

Opponents of this formula had argued that they may not pass the stipulation that says no party can get more seats than it is entitled to.

It is feared this will have a serious impact on the formation of a legitimate government.

Currently, the pro- and anti-junta camps are neck-and-neck in mustering MPs to claim legitimacy to set up a coalition.

If the 11 small parties that got less than the 71,057.50-vote threshold win places in the Lower House, it is believed they will be easily wooed by the conservative faction – a development that will ultimately handicap the pro-democracy wing.

Critics have also expressed concern that a coalition comprised of more than 25 parties will lack stability.

Praphan, however, insisted the formula had been finalised a long time ago and that it was within the EC’s authority to come up with a final calculation to determine MP numbers.

Meanwhile, criticism against the polling agency continues.

Activist Siravit Serithiwat, better known as Ja New, stood outside the EC headquarters on Chaeng Wattana Road yesterday collecting signatures to demand its dissolution. The activist then went to the Imperial Samrong department store to collect signatures, pushing for the EC’s dissolution due to alleged suspicious activities during the election, which he said was not transparent either.

As of press time, Siravit had obtained 5,000 signatures. He said he will take his campaign to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre tomorrow. He plans to submit the petition to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on April 10.

“Those who graduated from abroad shouldn’t bring extreme leftist ideology to topple the Thai democratic regime with the monarchy as head of state,” Apirat said at a press conference held to mark the 112th anniversary of the First Infantry Division (King’s Guard).

“Students, scholars and even government officials, no matter where you graduated from, should bear in mind that democracy needs to be adjusted in line with local culture and norms,” he said.

“We are Thai and this is Thai democracy. You have to adapt what you have learned to fit within our country,” he said. “Thai democracy is the notion of Thais love Thais, and we are united.”

Though the Army chief did not mention any group, he was clearly referring to comments posted on social media – a weapon that he said is more powerful than military hardware – that labelled one political group as a democratic force and the junta as dictator.

The Army chief called on all parties to accept the rules set and enforced by the Election Commission. “Like a football match, if a team loses, the fans have to accept defeat too,” he said.

The connotation of democracy versus dictatorship is a political discourse created to divide voters, he said implying that a six-party coalition led by Pheu Thai, calling themselves the pro-democracy camp, are competing with the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat Party to form a government.

“Let me ask if the NCPO [National Council for Peace and Order] is a dictator? Is our work over the past [five] years that of a dictatorship?” asked Apirat, who is also the NCPO secretary-general.

Human Rights Watch’s Sunai Phasuk, meanwhile, said military coups and military interference in politics are the biggest threats to Thailand’s democracy.

Hence, he said, instead of denouncing people’s demand to end military dictatorship, the Army chief should take his troops back to the barracks and end all forms of meddling in politics.

“The right way to ensure stability and reconciliation is to respect differences and peaceful coexistence in society, not repression and prosecution of dissenting voices. That is why the military needs to give power back to the people and return the country to democratic civilian rule,” Sunai told The Nation.

Paul Chambers, an expert on military affairs from Naresuan University, said Apirat’s comments were clearly directed at Future Forward Party, as he detests the party because of its anti-military standpoint and political reformist nature.

“Hence he has joined the chorus of those already attacking Future Forward for somehow being a threat to Thailand’s constitutional monarchy. But his words amount to simple intimidation of a party that is simply seeking democracy,” he said.

The Future Forward’s secretary-general, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, who graduated in law from France, is in the hot seat as ultra-rightists are accusing him of championing an anti-monarchist ideology with the intention of toppling the institution of monarchy.

Many have twisted Piyabutr’s lecture on the role of monarchy in the justice system, painting the scholar-turned-politician as a threat to the monarchy.

In a Facebook comment, former senator and academic Jermsak Pinthong said that using anti-monarchy comments as hate speech against Piyabutr would only give rise to social unrest and eventually hurt the monarchy. Jermsak, a former economist at Thammasat University, cited the anti-monarchist notion that the rightists used to spread hate against students before the Thammasat massacre on October 6, 1976.

“It will be good for our society if all groups stop bringing this highly revered institution into the political sphere,” he wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, former Thammasat rector and prominent historian Charnvit Kasetsiri used the Thai proverb “iron loses its strength when it rusts inside” as a metaphor to warn people that sometimes one ends up destroying what they want to preserve.

“The administration of the ancient Ayutthaya kingdom had collapsed from inside long before the Burmese came and toppled it,” he warned.

IN LIGHT of the extensive debate about the formula that will be used for calculating MP seats, the Election Commission (EC) secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma said yesterday that he expected the agency to make a decision this week.

Though the commissioners have yet to agree on a particular method of calculation, he said they will have to go by what is stipulated by the Constitution and related laws.

At least two formulas, based on different interpretations of the law, are being advanced. One formula allows as many as 11 small parties to gain at least one seat in Parliament, while the other allocates seats to bigger parties that have gained a bigger share of votes.

The formula the EC opts for will have an impact on the formation of the government and will determine which camp – pro- or anti-junta – controls the Lower House. Hence, politicians and the public have been pushing the agency to reveal the calculation method that it will use.

Jarungvith has said the EC will listen to all arguments and will also study relevant laws before answering the public. “Remember, the EC did not draw up these laws; it’s only the enforcer,” he said. “And we haven’t started calculating yet.”

Members of the now-defunct Constitution Drafting Commission and National Legislative Assembly will be invited to give inputs on the matter, he said, adding the EC will make an announcement as soon as it reaches a conclusion. “No matter what, we have to announce and endorse the election results by May 9,” he said, referring to the deadline set by the Constitution. “We are not pressured by this calculation issue. We just have to go by the law.”

As for moves to have the EC members removed due to alleged irregularities, the secretary-general said the public had every right to do this and that the agency could only provide an explanation on what had happened.

Separately, EC member Pakorn Mahannop yesterday blamed local agents for the irregularities.

“The more than 700,000 referees were villagers, teachers and personnel from the Interior Ministry, so some, maybe 10 or 100, made mistakes,” he said in a speech delivered to subcommittees investigating election-related irregularities. “This is what the EC has to investigate to uphold justice.”

As for the 4 million extra ballots that emerged after the election, Pakorn said that when the EC announced a turnout of some 33 million people, only 93 per cent of the vote had been tallied.

“So, that’s over 2 million more that hadn’t been counted. Plus, it hadn’t included the more than 2 million ballots from advance voting,” he said. “These are the 4 million extra ballots. They were not extra ballots added after the election and that is the truth.”

As for the ballots from New Zealand, Pakorn said they were like raffle coupons that arrived too late and could not possibly be included in the draw.

“You cannot ask us to count it after the process has already been completed,” the commissioner said. “That’s why we ruled that they could not be counted. It was not a question of them being valid or invalid.”