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Friday, January 18, 2008
Thai court rejects case vs advance voting, rules election valid (5:40 p.m.)
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's Supreme Court on Friday cleared a hurdle to the formation of a new government, dismissing a complaint that could have invalidated last month's general election.
The ruling that the state Election Commission was legally authorized to allow advance and absentee voting a week ahead of the Dec. 23 polls was the court's first to deal with several legal challenges to the election results.
A separate complaint could lead to the disqualification of the People's Power Party, affiliated with ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which topped the polls but failed to obtain a majority of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives.
The election was the first since Thaksin's ouster in a September 2006 coup.
After dismissing the challenge to advance voting, the court was set to rule later Friday on a complaint that the PPP violated election law and was liable to being disbanded, which could spark a political crisis in the country.
Parliament is scheduled to convene next week, and the PPP has said it will announce details of its planned six-party governing coalition this weekend.
If the court rules against the PPP, the party would have to halt all political activities while the case is forwarded to the Constitutional Court, which would decide whether to dissolve the party.
"We are certain that we will be treated fairly and we believe the evidence we provided to the court will help prove that we are innocent," said Surapong Suebwonglee, secretary-general of the Thaksin-linked PPP.
Even if the party is found guilty on any of several charges, the case would still be considered by several other bodies until the higher court ruled whether it had to be dissolved, a process that could take months.
Meanwhile, all the elected Members of Parliament could convene as scheduled next week, and a new government be formed.
The case against the PPP was brought before the Supreme Court by a member of the rival Democrat Party, which came in second in the election.
Democrat Party lawmaker Chaiwat Sinsuwong accused the PPP of serving as a proxy for Thaksin's former ruling party, an act he argued would violate election laws. Chaiwat abruptly resigned from the party on Friday. He had earlier been urged by party leaders to withdraw his complaint.
Thaksin last year was barred from politics for five years and his former ruling party was disbanded.
The PPP - organized after Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party was dissolved by court order - is led by right-wing firebrand Samak Sundaravej, a divisive figure who described himself during the campaign as Thaksin's proxy, and vowed to reinstate the populist policies of the former prime minister's government.
Thaksin, who has been living in exile since his ouster by the military, was accused of massive corruption and abuse of power. He has vowed to return by April.
The tycoon remains highly popular with the rural masses, and the PPP campaign focused heavily on bringing him back to Thailand - a move that could spark fresh political crisis. (AP) |
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