Thai political landscape becomes complicated as OAG proposes to dissolve parties

The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG)'s proposal to dissolve five political parties, including caretaker premier Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party and the Democrat parties, would compound Thailand's already cloudy political landscape in the near term and may drive the nation to a big mess.

On Tuesday, an 11-member fact-finding panel set up by OAG resolved to ask the Constitution Court to dissolve both the Thai Rak Thai party and its major rival, the Democrat party, as well as three small parties for alleged election fraud.

The two main parties were accused of tampering with the outcome of the April 2 general election by paying small opposition parties to contest the polls, or by attempting to discredit the electoral process.

Boycotted by Thailand's three major opposition parties, including the Democrats, the April 2 poll was turned into a defacto "one party race" by the ruling Thai Rak Thai party. Unopposed TRT candidates have to collect a minimum of 20 percent votes to win a MP post.

"The committee voted unanimously to ask the court to dissolve the Democrat, Prachatipatai Kaona Party, Patana Chat Thai Party, and Thai Ground Party for allegedly violating the Constitution and Article 66 of the Political Party Act," said OAG spokesman Atthapol Yaisawang.

Atthapol did not specify when the prosecution would take these cases to the court. A petition would be filed with the court as soon as it was ready.

"Their alleged wrongdoing might have been on different occasions, but they violated the law. We decided to process the cases simultaneously because of the related evidence," Atthapol said.

If convicted, the leaders and other executive members of the five parties would be barred from holding party executive posts for five years, but could still run in elections as parliamentary candidates under new party banners or be named to cabinet posts.

The Democrats promptly denied all the charges, which center on its call for a royally appointed government and its boycott of the April 2 general election.

In a four-page statement, the party maintained that its call was not a breach of the constitution and the election boycott was in compliance with article 328(2) of the constitution.

The party also questioned the OAG's speed in arriving at the decision to move against the party since the announcement was made less than 24 hours after the hand-in of the 1,500-page investigation report.

Thaksin, after coming out of a two-hour-long party meeting, insisted his TRT party is innocent. But he declined to say whether he would appear in court to testify if he was summoned, or if the election date would be changed from the scheduled Oct. 15.

While the Election Commission has set Oct. 15 as the new election date following the nullification of April 2 general election, it has not been formally fixed by the caretaker government.

The Constitutional Court has not indicated when it will hear the case, raising questions for the members of the five parties, who risk being unable to participate in the election as transfers must be made 90 days before an election date.

Some Analysts believed dissolution would pave the way for an unconstitutional government. They warned that bleak prospects and complete chaos could be created if the court agrees with the recommendations.

Some doubts the court would finally hand down a ruling to dissolve all five parties, especially the TRT and Democrats, because of the political crisis such a decision would spawn. History shows that the Constitution Court has dissolved every party that has faced such a threat so far.

Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, public administration dean of the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida), agreed that dissolution would create a political vacuum and crisis, adding that the Constitution Court would likely vindicate both parties.

Some University lecturers concerned that the decision would create political uncertainty and repeat past crisis for it could be too late for members of either of the two major parties, which have considerable public support nationwide, to play an active role in the next election.

Business leaders expressed pessimism that the country's political woes would be resolved in the near future, with the latest developments likely to add to pressure on profits and Thailand's overall economy.

They worried that further delay in holding new election and in passing new fiscal budget will ripple the economic performance.

Other optimistic legal experts saw the possible dissolution would not badly hurt the two major parties as their leaders were well prepared to set up "substitute parties." Under this scenario, the Election Commission would have to postpone the Oct. 15 poll to give members of the two parties more time to join alternative parties.

Source: Xinhua