Thai judges decide whether to disband parties

By Staff
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BANGKOK, May 29 (Reuters) Thailand's top constitutional judges met n today to decide whether to disband the country's biggest two parties and ban their leaders from politics for breaching election laws a year ago, a court spokesman said.

The nine members of the Constitutional Tribunal are expected to announce their decision, which could plunge the coup-prone southeast Asian nation further into the political unknown, tomorrow.

The military chiefs who ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September are braced for trouble after the verdicts, which are likely to upset either Thaksin's supporters or enemies, depending on how they pan out.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said 1,800 uniformed, riot and plain-clothes police would be on the streets around the court building with orders to evacuate the judges if the situation turned ugly after the rulings.

The coup leaders also have 13,000 ''emergency'' police and troops on stand-by in the event of unrest, a military spokesman said.

''The 13,000 from the three armed forces and the police are ready to come out if things escalate,'' Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said.

Despite attempts to block supporters of Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party from entering the capital, Sunsern said they had sneaked through checkpoints and were in Bangkok.

Army-appointed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont also has the power to impose martial law and a curfew, as well as deploy troops on the streets of Bangkok.

Thaksin, who is living in exile in London, and other top politicians could be banned from politics for five years.

Few doubt that the generals, who say they staged last September's coup to prevent violence as a street campaign against him grew, want him out of politics ahead of a general election Surayud has promised in December.

However, banning the telecommunications billionaire would outrage the millions of people in the countryside who gave him two election landslide victories and still see him as the only politician who really cares about them.

Fears of violence were laid out starkly by King Bhumibol Adulyadej when he summoned top judges to warn them whatever decisions the Constitutional Tribunal made would upset somebody.

''Whatever the verdict will be, it will bring damage to the country. Whatever direction it will take, it will be erroneous,'' he said in a 15-minute speech to the judges.

The words of the monarch, who is genuinely revered, prompted Thai Rak Thai and the opposition Democrat Party, who could also be disbanded, to promise restraint.

Despite the king's fear of violence, stock analysts viewed his remarks as an attempt to defuse violence.

''We conclude that the King's signals could lead to the CT (Constitutional Tribunal) making an effort to search for a compromise that would help avoid protests and confrontation,'' Phatra Securities economist Supavud Saicheua wrote.

Reuters SBC GC1259

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