Thai government clings to office amid continuing political turmoil

The legal cases are just one more indication of the continuing bitter divisions in ruling circles that led to the ousting of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a military coup in September 2006. The PPP, which is closely aligned to Thaksin, won the election last December, despite the dissolution of Thaksins Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, a five-year ban on 111 senior TRT figures and the imposition of a constitution drawn up by the military.

Since taking office in February, the government has faced veiled threats of a military coup and, from mid-May, street protests organised by the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) led by media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul. Late last month Samak survived a no-confidence vote by 280 to 161 votes after a week-long debate in which the opposition Democratic Party (DP) denounced the PPP as a surrogate for Thaksin.

The legal challenges, which rely on anti-democratic provisions in the constitution, were another step in the ongoing campaign to topple the government.

On July 8, the Supreme Court ruled that parliamentary speaker and deputy PPP leader, Yongyuth Tiyapairat, was guilty of electoral fraud and banned him from politics for five years. Under laws imposed by the military, the PPP itself could be abolished if the court subsequently finds that Yongyuth acted on its behalf. Yongyuth is a close Thaksin ally.

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