International   

Pro-Thaksin party’s legality upheld

SINGAPORE: Thailand’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the legality of the People’s Power Party (PPP), headed by the loyalists of military-deposed leader Thaksin Shinawatra. With this, the possibility of “democracy restoration” in that country has brightened considerably.

The PPP emerged front-runner in the general election that the ruling military junta held last month with a pledge to revive democracy through that exercise. Mr. Thaksin, twice elected Prime Minister, was toppled in a military coup in September 2006, and he was subsequently barred from politics for five years. And, the junta indicated that any political party with direct links to him could not be allowed to assume power on the basis of the results of the latest general election. It was in this context that a member of Thailand’s long-established Democrat Party had filed a petition against the PPP in the case that the Supreme Court now dealt with.

The court ruled that the PPP could not be deemed to be a nominee of either Mr. Thaksin or the now-dissolved Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party, which he had founded, according to independent observers monitoring this judicial process.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

National government idea finds no takers in Pakistan
10 killed in attack on Sri Lanka village
Pro-Thaksin party’s legality upheld
Have money, migrate to Britain
Osama’s son wants to be a peace envoy
Burns to resign in March
German teenager off to Siberia
Teacher found dead
CII team to have special meeting with Sarkozy in Paris
Report on Jinnah House incorrect: Pakistan
Qatar ban
India in seeming protocol fix as Nicolas Sarkozy’s state visit nears

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu