Coup?

[Bangkoktraveler]

True.

 

So, will this event be considered a coup?

[cavanami]

Yes, Coup lite?

 

...but the court made a ruling, so not really a coup, but a court decision?

[colorwolf]

Yes, Coup lite?

 

...but the court made a ruling, so not really a coup, but a court decision?

it's a judcial coup, as Giles Ungpakorn explains here

[drogon]

Please the pro Mr T, be consistent with yourselves:

 

TRT = democratically elected governement -> PPP = democratically elected government -> constitution court = legal court -> if they follow the procedure and decide to dissolve a party for electoral fraud = legal decision within a democratic system...

 

Don't use "democratic/democracy" for a government and then accuse the judiciary of being un-democratic...

 

Of course if: PPP/TRT = political party not always playing by the democratic/legal rules -> then I can accept that the court is not keeping its "neutrality".

 

As it is Thailand, nothing is really democratic or really neutral....

 

But I still love this country despite of this

[cavanami]

I see the court ruling as an "out" for all the parties involved and they do not lose face...PM didn't step down but he agrees to follow the court ruling...PAD wins as the court ruled in their favor.

 

TIT, every wins and another election will take place...and then it will start all over

[drogon]

Exactly Cavanami

[ThaiHome]

And, most importantly, the TRT/PPP has still not successfully amended the constitution to stop from being dissolved.

TH

[Mentors]

Court brings down Thai government

 

BANGKOK - A highly anticipated court decision delivered on Tuesday disbanding the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) and its junior ruling coalition partners, Chart Thai and Matchimathipataya, begins a bid to bring Thailand's increasingly violent and economically debilitating political conflict to a rule-by-law conclusion. It wasn't immediately clear whether the landmark verdict would have a calming or destabilizing effect.

 

The Constitution Court ruled that politicians who had been found guilty of electoral fraud in last year's general elections, which the PPP won convincingly, had acted on behalf of their respective parties, and this was justification for disbandment of the PPP and the other two parties.

 

Somchai Wongsawat, were all banned from politics for five years by the decision. The party's non-executive parliamentarians will be allowed 60 days to reconstitute under a new party banner, with most, though perhaps not all, expected to jettison to the Peua Thai party.

 

The party's representatives were scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss strategies at 5pm on Tuesday evening. One party insider told Asia Times Online that they were proceeding with a "patience" scenario for the time being. Another senior executive said that the party had backed away from plans to reject the legality of the decision and challenge the legitimacy of the court.

 

The PPP announced immediately after the decision that a caretaker cabinet would move to appoint quickly an interim prime minister and that it was initially leaning towards Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul. The court decision took a disproportionate toll on Yaowapha Wongsawat's northern faction. She is former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's sister and several of her followers were disqualified from politics.

 

Behind-the-scenes PPP powerbroker Newin Chidchob, who holds sway over a faction of an estimated 70-80 members of parliament and who has recently locked horns with other party factions, will be pivotal in determining whether Peua Thai will have the numbers needed to form a new government. He is expected to push for his father, Chai Chidchob, the current House speaker, to take over the premiership under a Peua Thai banner.

 

Whether Peua Thai will legally be allowed to form yet another new government is still in question. Political analysts say that with the disbandment of PPP, Chat Thai and Matchimathipataya, it is possible that the entire 2007 general elections could be declared null and void by the Election Commission. Others wonder whether King Bhumibol Adulyadej will offer any guidance or even suggest the formation of a government of national unity and reconciliation during his annual birthday speech, scheduled for December 4.

 

Analysts and academics have interpreted the revered monarch's previous words of encouragement to judges before politically pivotal court decisions as royal blessing for the "judicialization" of Thai politics, an emerging trend underscored by Tuesday's landmark decision in which senior judges resolve through legal channels the complex political problems and conflicts the monarchy has traditionally mediated. Bhumibol turns 81 years old on December 5 and many Thais are anxious about the vacuum of moral authority that will open on his eventual passing.

 

Dangerous escalations

Amid a dangerously escalating conflict, in which anti-government protesters, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), have for the past week laid siege to Bangkok's international and domestic airports, Somchai had refused calls from army commander General Anupong Paochinda and from within his own party to dissolve parliament and declare snap elections.

 

With the PPP's legal dissolution, Somchai's insistence on upholding his government's democratic mandate will be harder to argue for any third incarnation of Thaksin's original Thai Rak Thai party, which was previously disbanded.

 

After the court decision, the PAD said it would allow Bangkok's main international airport to reopen but that protests would continue. One PAD insider said via text message that the group's leaders would address the implications of the ruling for its protest movement on Tuesday evening and acknowledged that "the longer the airport is closed, the more trouble we have".

 

A PPP senior executive, requesting anonymity, said they planned to launch a campaign to reveal the "extraordinary forces" behind the PAD movement so that people "understand the links". He also said that the exiled and fugitive from justice Thaksin would take a lower profile and play a "more mysterious" role in any Peua Thai-led government.

 

Before the court verdict, there were widespread rumors of a possible judicial intervention in politics where, through a constitutional loophole, senior judges might move to establish a nine-member Supreme Council to fill the political vacuum left by the PPP's disbandment. The proposed council, to which one in-the-know palace source said various royals had been recruited, would have the power to appoint an interim prime minister and cabinet.

 

The Constitution Court's decision against the PPP made no such provisions, but they could yet be in the pipeline with an Election Commission ruling on the legitimacy of the 2007 election results. The half-appointed Senate as well as the Privy Council could potentially play appointment roles in such a scenario, one political analyst suggests. It's also still possible that the military will move to forcefully fill the political gap through an appointed body, especially if Tuesday's court decision leads to more street violence between pro- and anti-government groups.

 

Anupong has quietly refused to implement the emergency decrees Somchai promulgated to give the military extraordinary powers to clear both airports of PAD protesters. When rumors swirled over the weekend that Somchai, who served concurrently as defense minister, was preparing to sack Anupong for insubordination, as he apparently did with the national police chief, troops and military equipment were mobilized at strategic locations throughout Bangkok.

 

Fearing a military intervention, Somchai had established government in the northern city of Chiang Mai, a PPP electoral stronghold. One government insider told Asia Times Online and some local media reported that members of the 3rd Army Divisionâ??s 7th Artillery and 5th Special Forces had over the weekend attempted to kidnap Somchai, but were rebuffed by his personal security guards. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm the allegation.

 

What is clearer is that the PPP's remnants and its red-shirted United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protest group will fight against any move that prevents them from forming a new government under the Peua Thai banner. The UDD blocked access to the Constitution Court and judges were forced to change the venue for the final hearing to the Supreme Administrative Court, in another area of Bangkok.

 

UDD co-leader Veera Musikhapong insinuated at a thousands-strong rally at Bangkok's city hall the evening before the ruling that disbanded the PPP that Thai courts were working in league with the military and opposition Democrat Party to stage what he referred to as a "silent coup". "We could have started a civil war today, but didn't," said one party insider. "If the military or anyone else tries to appoint a national unity government, then the Molotov cocktails will fly. It will be our battle call."

 

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JL03Ae03.html

[whitelotuslane]

And, most importantly, the TRT/PPP has still not successfully amended the constitution to stop from being dissolved.

TH

 

Wait a minute, let's get real about this. The current constitution *IS* severely flawed. It was drafted under military supervision after they threw out the 1997 'People's Constitution' after their coup.

 

And among the things they changed were that whole parties can be dissolved for relatively minor offences.

 

For example, the last PM was sacked because he appeared on a TV cooking show.. Whoa.

 

Then the whole PPP was dissolved because of voting irrigularities in a single district by a single party member.

 

Not saying that's not serious, and that THAT PARTICULAR OFFENDER should be banned from politics for 5 years or even more, but to dissolve the majority party is outrageous.

 

The powers-that-be now have a very convenient and effective tool to keep elected governments on a leash, because they have shown they can and will use the corrupted courts to use any technicality to selectively apply the law to elected parties they don't like.

 

Next time it will be a lot less public.. They can influence individual policy decisions with some back-room threats.

 

So in case anyone failed to notice, the last coup DID de-facto install (or perhaps I should say 'legitimize') a managed democracy.

[ThaiHome]

Asked and answered.

 

You are way late for this dicussion.

 

TH