Myanmar labour activists have warned Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand to not participate in political rallies in the country.

“I believe migrant workers are mentally ready to participate in Thailand’s politics. However, practically, it is difficult to participate due to Thailand's rules and regulations”, said Daw Moe Sandar Myint, a chairman of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM).

In the 14 May Thai election the Move Forward Party won 38.01 per cent of the votes cast, the most votes won by any party. But, despite having the majority of the votes cast, the party’s candidate for prime minister, Pita Limjaroenrat, was rejected by the Thai military-appointed senate in a vote on 19 July, meaning he could not serve as prime minister and Move Forward cannot form the government.

Pita was then suspended by the Constitutional Court while it looked into his ownership of shares in the inactive media company iTV as parliamentarians are not allowed to hold shares in media companies.

This has upset many supporters of the Move Forward Party who believe that Pita and the party have been undemocratically blocked from taking power against the will of the public as expressed at the polls. As a result, there have been demonstrations across Thailand.

According to Thailand's constitution, foreigners are forbidden from participating in protests and if they do, they can be sentenced to three to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 to 2000,000 Thai baht.

There are about four to five million Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, according to Myanmar labour rights activists.