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Thaksin banned from politics for 5 years

P.S. Suryanarayana

Thailand's constitutional court delivers verdict; orders disbanding of his party

SINGAPORE: Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday night banned deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from politics for five years.

Mr. Thaksin, in self-imposed exile since the military coup against him last September, said prior to the ruling he would "respect" the judgment.

In the ruling delivered shortly before Wednesday midnight in Bangkok, the court ordered the disbanding of the Thai Rak Thai party, which Mr. Thaksin founded and led until he was overthrown.

The party was found guilty of electoral fraud in the context of the national poll in April last year. That general election was later annulled before the coup itself.

Mr. Thaksin's call to his supporters to stay "calm," although made before the latest judgment, was echoed by the party's post-coup leaders after the verdict.

In a parallel ruling, the court absolved the Democrat Party of all charges of electoral fraud, according to independent observers monitoring the cases.

Mr. Thaksin's party was accused of several corrupt practices, including instant creation on paper parties for the purpose of challenging his own in the general election that was later annulled.

The Democrat Party, then opposition, boycotted the poll, reducing it to what was widely seen as a farce.

The Wednesday verdict is expected to set the tone for the stated plans by the coup leader, Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, and his junta to revise the country's constitution and hold a "democracy-restoring" election later in the year.

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