THAILAND:ONE OF the leaders of Thailand's People Power Party (PPP) was found guilty of vote-buying and banned from politics for five years yesterday, a ruling that could lead to the dissolution of the main party in the coalition government.
The Supreme Court decision against deputy leader Yongyut Tiyapairat piles more pressure on the six-party coalition, already weakened by a street campaign against prime minister Samak Sundaravej which has unsettled investors.
"There was enough evidence to believe that [Yongyut] had violated the 2007 election law," said a judge who read out a verdict broadcast on national television.
The PPP appeared to be in disarray after the ruling. Gan Thiengaew, another deputy leader, said he would urge Mr Samak to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections, but the party's chief spokesman rejected the idea.
"It is not necessary. What are we running away from? Can a house dissolution help us escape a party dissolution," PPP spokesman Kuthep Saikrachang said.
The court ruling came on the same day the supreme court opened the first graft trial against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, nearly two years after he was ousted in a bloodless coup.
Mr Thaksin, who did not appear in court, is accused of using his position as prime minister to influence the sale of a prime piece of Bangkok land by a state agency to his wife. The former telecoms billionaire, who returned to Thailand in February to defend himself, has denied the charges.
The trial is among several court cases coming to a head this month as Mr Thaksin's supporters and his opponents in the military and royalist establishment struggle for control of Thailand's future, analysts say.
The guilty verdict against Mr Yongyut paves the way for the election commission to investigate whether the PPP was involved in the vote-buying in the December poll.
The commission could then pass its findings to the constitutional court, which could disband the PPP as happened to Mr Thaksin's former Thai Rak Thai party after the coup.
- (Reuters)