Thai prosecutors to ask court to disband PM's party

BANGKOK, June 27 (Reuters) Prosecutors deepened Thailand's political crisis today by recommending Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's ruling party and the opposition Democrat Party be disbanded for violating election laws.

''The Attorney-General Office's board of 11 members agreed unanimously'' Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais), the Democrats and three small parties were guilty of violations, spokesman Attapol Yaisawang told reporters.

Attorney-General Pachara Yutidhammadamrong was expected to approve the board's decision and forward the case to the Constitutional Court this week, Attapol said after a five-hour meeting to study thousands of pages of allegations.

The Election Commission accused the parties of violations in a snap April 2 general election Thaksin called to counter street protests against him but later declared unlawful by the courts.

The law says a party faces dissolution if it breaks election rules that threaten national security, peace and order, or the constitutional monarchy.

The case against Thai Rak Thai stems from an Election Commission probe into a complaint by the Democrats and found two Thai Rak Thai leaders gave two fringe parties money to run against the ruling party.

Thaksin and Thai Rak Thai deny the charges.

''How can it be dissolved? The Thai Rak Thai Party has done nothing wrong. There should not be any disbanding,'' Thaksin told reporters at the weekend.

The April poll included many constituencies where Thai Rak Thai candidates ran uncontested due to a boycott by the three main opposition parties. They failed to win their seats because they did not get a required 20 per cent of the eligible vote.

The Democrats accused the two Thai Rak Thai leaders of paying fringe parties to run so ruling party candidates could avoid the 20 per cent rule.

But with seats left unfilled, parliament could not meet to elect a new prime minister, leaving Thailand with a caretaker government that cannot take major policy decisions and no functioning legislature.

In a tit-for-tat, Thai Rak Thai alleged the Democrats had paid fringe parties to accuse it falsely and that its election boycott was unconstitutional.

The Election Commission yesterday said it believed the Democrats were guilty of the allegations against them.

A re-run of the election has been set for October 15, but it is far from certain the political mess will be sorted out by then.

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