Thai attorney general seeks dissolution of ruling party

Bangkok - Thailand's Office of the Attorney General on Friday requested the Constitution Court accept a case seeking to dissolve the People Power Party (PPP), the lead party in the coalition government. The case, if accepted, was expected to lead to the disbandment of the PPP because the same court already convicted former PPP deputy leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat of committing election fraud in the December 23 polls. Under Thailand's constitution, if the executive of a political party is found guilty of committing fraud or vote-buying, the entire party must be dissolved and its executives banned from politics for five years. The PPP is closely linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted by a coup on September 19, 2006, and whose Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved by a constitutional tribunal in May last year when the country was under a military-appointed interim government. The same tribunal banned Thaksin and 110 former Thai Rak Thai executives from participating in politics for five years. The tribunal's ruling, however, did not prevent Thaksin's political allies from setting up the PPP as a proxy party. The PPP won the largest number of parliamentary seats in the December elections after campaigning on a pro-Thaksin platform and promises to renew his populist policies, which were attractive to Thailand's urban and rural poor. But the party has had problems ruling. Thailand's judiciary has consistently ruled against leading PPP politicians in a host of corruption and abuse-of-power cases this year, which have already claimed one PPP prime minister. On September 9, the Constitution Court ruled that former prime minister Samak Sundaravej was guilty of moonlighting for hosting television cooking shows during his premiership and sacked him. The PPP's right to rule has also been seriously undermined by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose coalition of conservative groups that has been protesting against the government since May. Thousands of PAD followers seized Government House on August 26 and have occupied the seat of the administration since then. On Tuesday, the PAD laid siege to Parliament in a failed bid to prevent newly appointed Prime Minister Somchai Wonsawat, who happens to be Thaksin's brother-in-law, from reading his policy statement, which officially legitimized his rule. When police attempted to disperse the PAD crowd with tear gas, the movement went on the offensive, leading to a clash between police and protestors that left two dead and about 440 injured. The government and police have been severely criticized for resorting to violence, but only a few Thai academics have criticized the PAD's attack on Parliament. 'The PAD are the self-appointed agenda-setters,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. 'They are becoming a bulldozing force.' The PAD, which is staunchly pro-monarchy and highly critical of the type of 'money politics' Thaksin came to represent, has drawn many of Bangkok's middle class to its ranks and enjoys the tacit support of Thailand's political elite. Its leadership espouses a return to a form of government dependent on appointees and bureaucrats, similar to Thailand's system under an absolute monarchy. The absolute monarchy was ended in 1932, turning Thailand into a constitutional monarchy under a democratic form of government.