Thailand's Constitutional Court will rule tomorrow whether prime minister Samak Sundaravej violated the constitution by hosting television cooking shows while in office, a judge said today.
If found guilty of conflict of interest, Mr Samak will have to step down along with his cabinet, which would satisfy thousands of protesters who have been barricaded inside his official compound for two weeks demanding his resignation.
Mr Samak has insisted he will never stand aside, dismissing the protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) as a mob.
Newspapers have speculated about the case being a short-term solution to the stalemate, after the declaration of a state of emergency last week when a man died in a street battle between pro- and anti-government groups.
Tomorrow's ruling comes unusually fast for Thai courts, where cases can linger for years.
"That could be one of the ways out for a lot of people," political scientist Panitan Wattanayagorn of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said.
However, legal analysts said it could also resolve nothing, since Mr Samak could become prime minister again as long as his ruling six-party coalition stuck together and chose him as its leader.
One of his ministers, Chaiya Sasomsap, did just that, standing down as health minister after the court disqualified him on account of his wife's shareholdings, before returning to the cabinet weeks later as commerce minister.
"Even if Samak has to go, the crisis won't end," Somyos Chamchoy of brokerage Kasikorn Research said. "Parliament will vote for him as the prime minister again and the coalition partners will stick together."
The embattled prime minister appeared in court today, denying he was paid a salary by a private media company to do the shows, "Tasting, Grumbling" and "Touring at 6am".
"I was hired, but not their employee," Mr Samak told the court in a televised hearing. He gave up hosting the shows in April, more than two months after he was sworn in as prime minister.
The constitution bans the prime minister and cabinet ministers from working for profit-oriented private entities.
The case stems from a complaint made by senators on May 25th, the day the PAD launched its street campaign against Mr Samak.
He has proposed a referendum on his seven-month rule, but the PAD has rejected the move.
The highly politicised military has insisted it will not intervene, but senior officers acknowledge that the political crisis has reached a stalemate.
Analysts say Mr Samak's offer to hold a referendum makes it harder to force his removal through intervention either by the military or by revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has stepped into disputes in the past.
In 2006, when then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was facing a prolonged campaign by the PAD, the king told the country's top judges to resolve the political "mess" after the opposition boycotted a general election.