Protests in Thailand escalated today as the royalist-controlled junta ordered the winner of the country's recent sham election to be banned from politics.

Harvard-educated Pita Limjaroenrat - the first ever Thai awarded a scholarship to a prestigious U.S. school - won a national poll on May 15 but was blocked for a second time from becoming Prime Minster today due to him posing a 'threat to national security'.

Military-controlled courts also ordered the former executive director of NASDAQ-listed ride-hailing app Grab to be suspended from politics while they investigate probate shares in an inactive media company held by his late father.

The North Korea-style move to banish the leader of the Move Forward Party was launched when Pita vowed to stick to his pledge to legalise criticism of Thailand's controversial monarchy, which is the richest royal family in the world following years of unobstructed plundering of the public purse and widespread indoctrination of the populace.