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Thaksin's party 'dead'
03/10/2006 07:43 - (SA)
Bangkok - The death knell sounded on Tuesday for the once all-powerful party of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with more than 200 members resigning in the face of a threat of banishment from politics for five years, a party leader said.
"The legacy of the Thai Rak Thai party is over. The Thai Rak Thai has died along with Thaksin Shinawatra," its deputy leader, Pongpol Adireksan, told reporters.
He said that an executive order issued by the ruling military council Saturday "clearly showed that it aims to dissolve the Thai Rak Thai and shut the door for Thaksin to return to politics." He added that more than 200 party members had resigned since Saturday.
The order will ban members of a political party from politics for five years if courts find the party had breached election laws and is dissolved.
Thaksin's party, which held a parliamentary majority after sweeping several elections, is under legal scrutiny for alleged violations during a snap election called by Thaksin in April.
Call for swift return to democratic rule
Thaksin was overthrown by senior military officers in a bloodless coup on September 19 while Thaksin was abroad on official business. Surayud Chulanont, a former army commander, was named to replace him as interim prime minister.
On Monday, the country's respected Central Bank chief agreed to join the interim prime minister's cabinet, as the US and Japan called for a swift return to democratic rule some two weeks after a military coup.
Confirming his appointment on Monday to the post-coup cabinet, Bank of Thailand Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula told reporters he expects to secure a key portfolio in the finance-economic sector - a move likely to reassure the business community.
Pridiyathorn, 59, who helped steer Thailand's economy out of the devastating 1997 Asian financial crisis, took over the helm of the Bank of Thailand in 2001. He has been praised for policies that promoted financial stability.
The coup leaders have assured investors that the interim government will support local and foreign investment and give the private sector a leading economic role.
Western nations and human rights groups have nevertheless criticized the September 19 coup as a setback for democracy, and the appointment of Surayud as interim prime minister has done little to ease that disapproval.
Beijing wants to deepen bilateral ties
An interim constitution to replace the 1997 one scrapped by the military empowers the coup leaders to remove the prime minister and cabinet, and to select a committee to draft a permanent constitution. It maintains martial law and other restrictions imposed by the military, including curbs on press freedoms and limits on public gatherings.
Japan's foreign ministry said on Monday that it was watching the developments with "grave concern," and that a democratic administration should be established "promptly".
China, however, said it was "happy to see the stabilisation of the situation in Thailand," according to a Foreign Ministry statement that congratulated Surayud, 63, and stressed Beijing's desire to deepen bilateral ties.
The US urged the new prime minister to protect basic civil liberties, expressing hope that the former army commander's appointment would spur a quick return to democracy.
- SAPA
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