Thailand’s main opposition party has defended its decision to support amendments to the country’s contentious lese-majeste law, saying that it was well within its constitutional rights to seek changes to any legislation.

Last week, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) indicted 44 former members of the dissolved Move Forward Party (MFP) for sponsoring a bill to amend Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which criminalizes critical comments about the country’s monarchy.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the head of the People’s Party, the MFP’s successor party, insisted that proposing an amendment to a law was well within lawmakers’ rights.

“Proposing a bill falls under a lawmaker’s authority. It does not violate any law or ethical standard,” he said, according to a report in The Nation.

Natthaphong said that the People’s Party had already assembled a legal team to respond to the individual allegations. He also called on the NACC to maintain a fair, transparent approach, avoiding any double standards or unnecessary haste in the process.

The amendment of Article 112, which carries punishments of up to 15 years in prison, has become a focus of Thai democrats and progressives, especially since 2020 and 2021, when thousands of........

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