BANGKOK: Thailand's top court is set to rule Wednesday on whether to ban the country's most popular politician and dissolve his party over his pledge to reform the kingdom's tough royal insult laws.

Pita Limjaroenrat, 43, led the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) to a shock first place in a general election in May last year, seeing off the ageing power brokers who have long dominated Thai politics.

But he lost the battle to become prime minister - chosen by the elected lower house and military-appointed senate - and has been embroiled in legal battles since.

"The irregular political party dissolution has become regular in Thailand, unlike in other countries, where a party dissolution is quite a big situation," said Wanwichit Boonprong, a lecturer at Rangsit University.

The court-ordered dissolution in 2020 of the MFP's predecessor, the Future Forward Party, was the catalyst for mass youth-led demonstrations that shook Bangkok for months.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets at the height of the demonstrations, many making unprecedented public criticism of the royal family as well as demands for transparency and reform.

More than 270 people were charged with lese-majeste in the wake of the protests, including two elected MPs.

During last year's elections, Pita pledged to amend Thailand's strict royal defamation law and reform the military - promises that struck a chord with young and urban voters wearied by nearly a decade of army-backed rule.

But despite winning more than 30 per cent of the vote and convincing partners to join him in a coalition, the old guard rallied to keep him from power.

The death knell sounded in March when Thailand's election commission asked the country's Constitutional Court to dissolve the MFP for calling for the reform of lese majeste laws.

The MFP, which has 148 seats in Thailand's 500-seat Parliament, is widely expected to form a new party if it is dissolved.

Pita, meanwhile, faces a decade-long ban from politics and has hinted that he may be preparing himself for a life outside of the political arena.

"I never thought I would be a politician forever, so I will not whine over it," he told local media outlet Matichon.

"I want to pay attention to my eight-year-old daughter fully and reunite with my old friends."

  - AFP