The National Anti-Corruption Commission said Monday that 44 former lawmakers from the now-dissolved Move Forward Party had “failed to uphold and maintain the democratic system of government with the King as Head of State” by submitting a petition to amend the lese majeste law in 2021.

The ex-legislators also failed to “protect and preserve the institution of the monarchy, national independence and sovereignty,” the agency said in a statement.

The commission said it would file the charge to the Supreme Court within 30 days, without specifying possible penalties. In similar cases in the past, the court has imposed lifetime bans from political office or contesting elections, or revoked voting rights for up to 10 years.

The move came just hours after the People’s Party — Move Forward’s successor — was relegated to a distant second place in an election on Sunday it was widely tipped to win.

Its leader and prime ministerial candidate Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut is among the former accused lawmakers who contested the latest poll under its banner.

The anti-graft agency leaned on the Constitutional Court’s verdict that Move Forward had sought to undermine the monarchy with its campaign pledge in the 2023 election to loosen the royal insult law, which protects the royal family from criticism. Move Forward won that election but was blocked from power by conservative parties and the military-appointed Senate.

Beyond the possible loss of its leaders, the case risks sapping momentum from a movement that has survived repeated dissolutions.

It may deepen doubts over whether the group, born during nine years of military-backed rule, can withstand institutional pressure in its rivalry with the royalist establishment that has so far blocked its path to power.

The Bhumjaithai Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, won 191 seats out of a possible 500 in the House of Representatives on Sunday, with the pre-poll favorite People’s Party seeing its tally drop to 115 seats from 151 three years ago.