A popular pro-democracy party in Thailand has been dissolved over a loan it received from its leader. The constitutional court ruled a loan of around $6m (£4.6m) to Future Forward from Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit was a donation, and therefore illegal.

Mr Thanathorn, a wealthy young businessman who is critical of the government, established the party in 2018 to contest last year’s election. It performed unexpectedly well, winning more than six million votes. Future Forward had garnered the third largest share of seats in parliament with 80 MPs.   Mr Thanathorn and other party executives have also been banned from politics for 10 years and will lose their MP status, Thai TV said. The party’s remaining 70 MPs have 60 days to switch to a new party in order to preserve their MP status, it added. Mr Thanathorn argues the party was given no other opportunity to raise funds to fight the election. Mr Thanathorn and his party have been hit with multiple lawsuits, which he says are politically motivated, reports the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok. (BBC)…[+]