Senator seeks Democrats' dissolution

Among the 219 MPs who voted to back Abhisit as new prime minister, he said, 46 were from three political parties that had just been dissolved and were still not affiliated with any political party. Ruangkrai said that with those MPs excluded, it meant Abhisit and his Democrat Party rose to power with support from less than half the Lower House.

 

The ex-senator accused Abhisit and the Democrat Party of gaining power to govern unconstitutionally.

 

Ruangkrai’s move came after the Constitution Court’s decision last week to accept for judicial review petitions filed by opponents of constitutional amendment bills against the government and coalition parties. The court explained that Article 68 empowers individuals to file such a case directly with the court.

 

Ruangkrai said yesterday that he took the advantage of that decision by the court. He said he had filed his case in 2009 with the Attorney-General’s Office but there had been no progress, so he decided to file the case directly with the court after last week’s decision.

 

Although Abhisit’s government no longer exists, he said there was still ground for the court to order the Democrat Party dissolved and its executives banned from politics.

 

In 2008, Ruangkrai’s petition led to the Constitution Court verdict that then-prime minister Samak Sundaravej violated the charter for being hired to host a cooking television programme. 

 

Article 267 of the Constitution prohibits members of the Cabinet from “being an employee of any person, or holding any position in a partnership, a company or an organisation carrying out business with a view to sharing profits or incomes”.