Major parties to face trial on election law violation case

BANGKOK, July 13 (TNA) - Thailand's Constitution Court agreed on Thursday to accept the election laws violation case against caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party and its main rival Democrat Party and three minor parties for deliberation and could lead to the dissolution of the parties, a court official said.

Paiboon Varahapaitoon, secretary-general of the Constitution Court, said the court's 15 justices agreed to accept the case. The parties now have 15 days to submit written pleas before the trial begins.

The Court's decision was largely expected after the charges were endorsed by the Attorney-General's Office following an OAG fact-finding panel last month recommended that five parties, including the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party, the main opposition Democrat Party (Thailand's oldest, founded 60 years ago) and three minor parties, face prosecution for election law violations.

Speaking to reporters after the court decision, Mr. Thaksin remained non-committal regarding whether he would have to testify before the court, saying his party's legal team has been prepared to deal with the case.

The Thai Rak Thai Party is accused of two violations, including that it financed small parties to run against it in some constituencies in the April 2 general election to evade the minimum 20 per cent of eligible
votes required by law for the candidate to win the election.

The opposition Democrat Party also faces charges, including having allegedly financed smaller parties to accuse Thai Rak Thai of violating election law.

However, both parties have denied the charges filed against them.

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin stood firm in contending that his Thai Rak Thai party should not be dissolved. He asserted earlier that his party had committed no mistake, and therefore, there were no grounds to justify its dissolution.

Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva also denied all charges.

The three minor parties charged with having committed similar offences and also recommended for dissolution are the Progressive Democratic Party (Prachathipatai Kao Na), Pattana Chart Thai and the Thai Ground Party (Phaen Din Thai).

TNA