Bangkok - Thailand's Constitution Court on Tuesday accepted
a dissolution case against the People Power Party (PPP), the leading
party in the coalition government, on charges that it committed
election fraud in the December 23 polls.
The court also accepted similar cases against PPP coalition
partners, the Chart Thai and Matchimathipataya parties, after the
Office of the Attorney General lodged petitions against the three
parties on August 10.
It was widely expected that the case would lead to the disbandment
of the PPP because the same court already convicted former PPP deputy
leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat of committing election fraud in December's
elections.
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 in a bloodless 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 tribunal also 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.
Last week, the PAD laid siege to Parliament in a failed bid to
prevent newly appointed Prime Minister Somchai Wonsawat, 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.
On Monday, Queeen Sirikit personally presided over the funeral of
Angkhana Radappanyawut, 28, one of two people who were killed in the
October 7 police crackdown.
The queen, accompanied by her daughter Princess Chulabhorn
Valayalaksana, later talked with Angkhana's father and sister, who
said Sirikit described the deceased as a 'good girl' who had 'helped
protect the country and the monarchy,' according to local media
reports.
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.
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