Thailand's ruling party survives dissolution case (1st Lead)

Nov 29, 2010, 9:01 GMT

Bangkok - Thailand's oldest political party and leader of the current coalition government, the Democrat Party, survived a dissolution case Monday when it was acquitted by the Constitutional Court in an electoral fraud case.

The judges in the closely watched case voted four for acquittal and two for dissolution Monday afternoon. A decision in favour of dissolution could have thrown the political situation into upheaval.

The case stems from charges that the Democrat Party misused 29 million baht (960,000 dollars) during an unsuccessful campaign to win power in the 2005 general election.

The court ruled the petition process brought by the Election Commission was unlawful.

In his closing statement Monday Democrat Party chief advisor Chuan Leekpai, the head of the Democrat legal defence team and a former prime minister, argued for a little more than one hour that the Puea Thai party used false information against the Democrat Party and put pressure on the Election Commission to pursue the case.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had said earlier that whatever the ruling, he will dissolve parliament soon to hold an election early next year. His government's term expires on December 23, 2011.

The election will pit the Democrats against Puea Thai, the main opposition party, whose de-facto leader is fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who introduced populist policies to Thailand's existing system of money politics, won the 2001 and 2005 general elections by large margins with his former party, Thai Rak Thai.

Thai Rak Thai was dissolved in 2007 on charges of committing election fraud, and 111 of its executives were banned from politics for five years, including Thaksin, who now lives in self-exile after a conviction for abuse of power.

Chaturon Chaisaeng, a veteran politician and one of the banned Thai Rak Thai members told

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