Thailand's oldest party not guilty of election violations

Thailand’s oldest political party was today cleared of election law violation charges, a verdict that could help restore stability ahead of December elections.

While clearing the Democrat Party of charges, the Constitutional Tribunal still had to issue a verdict on charges against the Thai Rak Thai Party of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The court took more than four hours to read the charges and verdicts against the Democrats, and was expected to issue its verdicts against Thai Rak Thai later tonight.

The court ruled that the Democrat Party did not malign Shinawatra nor urge voters to cast a “no” vote in last year’s election.

It also found the party innocent of using a smaller party to trick Thai Rak Thai in election law violations, and ruled it had not obstructed a parliament candidate from registering in a southern constituency.

“There are no legal grounds to disband” the Democrat Party, a judge read, which brought cheers and chants of “Democrats Fight On” from crowds gathered at the party headquarters and watching the proceeding on television.

A guilty verdict could still result in Thai Rak Thai being disbanded or their executives being banned from politics for five years. The party could, however, register under a different name to run in future elections.

The April election was annulled by the courts, leaving Thailand with a caretaker government and a political crisis that led to Thaksin’s ouster by the military last September.

The leaders of both parties had publicly promised to accept the court’s rulings, but there had been concerns that there might be demonstrations in support of Thai Rak Thai, which could turn violent if the verdict went against it.

Interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has warned that he would reimpose a state of emergency if violence erupted. Thousands of security officers, meanwhile, fanned out across the Thai capital, and political Web sites were shut down amid fears of unrest before the court began its session.