Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, appeared in front of the Constitution Court yesterday in a case which could potentially bring down the current government and result in the dissolution of Thailand’s oldest political party, the Democrat Party. As always in Thai politics, the issues involved are far from straight-forward and the eventual outcome is difficult to predict.
The Democrat Party is accused of misusing a state grant in 2005. Specifically, the Election Commission have accused the Democrats of illegal spending on campaign posters. The current prime minister was deputy of the Democrat Party at the time. If the Constitution Court upholds the allegations, the Democrat Party could be dissolved and members of the party could be banned from politics for five years. In a separate case which could be heard at the end of the year, the Democrat Party is also accused of failing to disclose a political donation.
Adding fuel to the fire is the appearance of a video released by the opposition Pheu Thai Party which seems to show footage of a secret meeting between an official of the Democrat Party and an aide to one of the Constitution Court judges. The Democrat Party had previously denied they had lobbied the court.
If the Democrat Party is disbanded it won’t be the first time that the Thai legal system has ousted a serving prime minister from office. In September 2008, PM Samak was forced to resign following an apparently innocuous payment received for hosting a television cookery show. His successor, PM Somchai was then ousted from office three months later by another legal decision which also resulted in the disbanding of the pro-Thaksin ruling party. It was these events which led to the Democrat Party forming a coalition government headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva. It was also these events which sparked anger amongst Thailand’s pro-Thaksin and red shirt groups who decried the situation as a ‘judicial coup’. These same groups have already said that if the Democrat Party isn’t disbanded, it will prove that double standards have been applied. However, the Democrat Party say that the situations do not stand comparison. Some supporters of the Democrat Party have also suggested that the red shirt movement pressurised the Election Commission when they converged on the EC offices in Bangkok at the beginning of April as part of the anti-government protests.
Closing statements in the case are expected to be heard at the end of November. Some local analysts believe that the best option for true reconciliation for Thailand is for the Democrat Party to be disbanded by the Constitution Court in the same way that the pro-Thaksin People Power Party was disbanded in December 2008. That would then show the red shirt movement that the legal system was even-handed in the way it deals with political cases. An opposing opinion put forward is that this would create more instability in Thailand and the military and other influential figures will not allow that to happen.
