Thailand’s Constitution Court has today ruled against the current prime minister and his political party, the People Power Party (PPP). Prime Minister Somchai is disqualified from office with immediate effect and the PPP has been ordered to dissolve.
The court ruling found the PPP guilty of electoral fraud during the December 2007 elections. Under Thai law, all executives of a political party are culpable if one of its executives commits electoral fraud such as vote-buying. In this instance, although PM Somchai was not the man accused of vote buying, he is an executive of the PPP and so his punishment is disqualification as leader and a 5 year ban from Thai politics. In the same ruling, two other coalition parties were dissolved and altogether over 100 executives from three different coalition parties have been disqualified from office.
Of the 36 cabinet ministers, 22 are not affected by the ruling and can continue in office under a caretaker government formed by other coalition parties. It’s a complicated scenario and today’s ruling certainly does not signal the end of the current political crisis. A populist pro-Thaksin political party will emerge under a new name (probably Pheu Thai) and the divisions look set to continue. However, today’s ruling could be good news for stranded tourists waiting to return home from Thailand. The anti-government protesters who have occupied Bangkok’s two airports for over a week celebrated the news when it was relayed on live television. It remains to be seen whether today’s ruling will be sufficient for the PAD group to call a halt to the protests.
Mr Somchai has accepted the court ruling, but thousands of pro-government supporters wearing red shirts surrounded the court building and expressed their anger at what they have been calling a ‘judicial coup’. Just hours before the decision was announced, an explosive device was launched at the PAD group who have been occupying Don Muang airport. One person was killed and 24 were injured.
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